Criticism of the «Chinese Room» by J. Searle from the Position of a Hybrid Model for the Design of Artificial Cognitive Agents

Abstract

AbstractThe article presents a review of the phenomenon of understanding the meaning of the natural language and, more broadly, the meaning of the situation in which the cognitive agent is located, taking into account the context. A specific definition of understanding is given, which is at the intersection of neurophysiology, information theory and cybernetics. The scheme of abstract architecture of a cognitive agent (of arbitrary nature) is given, concerning which it is stated that an agent with such architecture can understand in the sense described in the work. It also provides a critique of J. Searle’s mental experiment «The Chinese Room» from the point of view of the construction of artificial cognitive agents implemented within a hybrid paradigm of artificial intelligence. The novelty of the presented work is based on the application of the author’s methodological approach to the construction of artificial cognitive agents, while in the framework of this approach is considered not just the perception of external stimuli from the environment, but the philosophical problem of «understanding» artificial cognitive agent of its sensory inputs. The relevance of the work follows from the renewed interest of the scientific community in the theme of Strong Artificial Intelligence (or AGI). The author’s contribution to the considered theme consists in complex consideration from different points of view of the theme of understanding perceived by artificial cognitive agents with the formation of prerequisites for the development of new models and the theory of understanding within the framework of artificial intelligence, which in the future will help to build a holistic theory of the nature of human mind. The article will be interesting for specialists working in the field of artificial intellectual systems and cognitive agents construction, as well as for scientists from other scientific fields — first of all, philosophy, neurophysiology, psychology etc. KeywordsPhilosophy of mindPhilosophy of artificial intelligenceChinese roomSemanticsPerceptionUnderstandingLearningMachine learningArtificial intelligenceStrong artificial intelligence