The Universal Computer

Beyond Leibniz’s Dream

totally mistaken. The man understands nothing of chess, he is just a

computer. And the point of the parable is this: if the man does not

understand chess on the basis of running the chess-playing program,

neither does any other computer solely on that basis.

Readers of this book will perhaps notice the arbitrary separation of

software from hardware in this example. The man in the room simply

functions as a crude version of a universal computer. Of course a bare-

bones computer doesn’t play chess. It is only the man together with the

instruction book for which any such claim might be made. Here is my

version of Searle’s parable:

A precocious child whose mother is passionate about chess becomes

tired of watching her play and deman ...