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[–] 1 point 3 weeks ago (2 children)

In this context the question is whether a Chinese room can suffer. We can't show a human isn't a Chinese room, humans can suffer so we can't show every Chinese room doesn't suffer.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    The Chinese room argument is about understanding, not emotions. There is a large body of literature on the use and evolutionary benefit of emotion. While you can make an analogy to see if a system can have emotions the link between understanding is not trivial. For example, animals show emotion but don’t have the same understanding that a human may have. I don’t think you need to have understanding to have emotions. So the Chinese room argument is shoe horned in without making it clear what your argument is.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago

    The discussion was about suffering which I take to be an emotional response. The comment I responded to seem to say a "chinese room" argument was a unassailable argument without elaborating why. The only way I make sense of that comment is that the author thinks it's already proved that a Chinese Room can't experience emotions.

    Yes, the Chinese Room argument was originally about understanding but I don't see how that enters into this discussion.

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