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Spanish Scrabble Proves to Be a Chinese Room
Life imitates philosophy . . . again . . . and exposes the AI myth
Last month, in Spain, the Spanish national Scrabble championship was held. Yeah, I didn’t know there was such a thing either. What was most notable about the event was that the competition was won by a New Zealander who didn’t speak Spanish.
Yes, Richards won a Spanish-language word competition without speaking the Spanish language. Richards instead memorized the official Spanish word list for the competition. Mastering that comprehensive of a memory exercise is a feat in itself, but clearly that is an accomplishment of memorization not of language learning. Richards could win the competition but could not understand people congratulating him. He could fill in a Scrabble board but not have a conversation with people. Richards’s accomplishment tells us things about learning and knowledge.
The Searle of Authenticity
Learning of Richards’s accomplishment, I immediately realized it validated the “Chinese…