Can a mind be “just” a computer? In this episode, we unpack John Searle’s Chinese Room and the debate it ignited about understanding, meaning, and consciousness. We lay out Searle’s thought experiment in plain language, explore why it challenges the idea that syntax alone yields semantics, and walk through some leading replies.
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Can a mind be “just” a computer? In this episode, we unpack John Searle’s Chinese Room and the debate it ignited about understanding, meaning, and consciousness. We lay out Searle’s thought experiment in plain language, explore why it challenges the idea that syntax alone yields semantics, and walk through some leading replies.
What is time? We all live in it, but the moment we try to explain it, it slips away. From Augustine’s famous puzzle to today’s philosophical debates, this episode explores competing theories of time: the Block Universe, the Moving Spotlight, Presentism, and the Growing Block. Do past, present, and future all exist at once? Or is only the “now” real? Join us as we unravel the paradox of temporal passage—and why time might be the most baffling concept of all.
The Thursday Thought Experiment.
Can a mind be “just” a computer? In this episode, we unpack John Searle’s Chinese Room and the debate it ignited about understanding, meaning, and consciousness. We lay out Searle’s thought experiment in plain language, explore why it challenges the idea that syntax alone yields semantics, and walk through some leading replies.
