The Chinese Room thought experiment was proposed by the American philosopher John Searle in 1980. The experiment involved putting a person who could only speak English in a nearly closed room. The person could only communicate with the outside world through a small window, and the person could only communicate using text, not language. He had a Chinese translation program book next to him. Other people would send notes written in Chinese into the room through the small window. The person in the room could use the translation book to translate the words and reply in Chinese. Even if the person didn't understand Chinese at all, with the help of the book, the person outside the room would think that they were proficient in Chinese.
See, the book, and the person could only speak English. Weren't these two conditions just right?
Searle used this thought experiment to counter the Turing Test, and he did it. Currently, no artificial intelligence could break through the shackles of the Chinese Room experiment. To the person outside the room, the computer showed an intelligent response, but in fact, it didn't understand what was going on.
The Turing Test was a thought experiment proposed by Alan Turing in 1950. It meant that the tester and the testee were separated, and they communicated with each other through a specific device, such as a keyboard. If the tester couldn't determine whether the testee was a human or a machine, it meant that the machine had passed the test, and the testee could be considered to have the intelligence of a human.
This elfin could make the readers think that it was a human, a person who liked to play pranks. If it was really an artificial intelligence, it must have passed the Turing Test.
However, was passing the Turing Test considered artificial intelligence? Searle used the Chinese Room thought experiment to answer "no."
The collision of these two great people's thought experiments after 30 years was enough to write a thick monograph, but Zhang Zian had only heard a little about it.
As for why it was the Chinese Room and not the Portuguese or German Room, it was because Westerners generally thought that Chinese was as difficult as a heavenly book, and humans couldn't learn it at all.
Although the Chinese Room thought experiment was not as famous as Schrodinger's cat, it was well-known in the field of artificial intelligence and computers.
Zhang Zian's guess only stayed in his mind for a short while before he rejected it himself, because it was too far-fetched.
First of all, although the Chinese Room thought experiment satisfied the two conditions of "book" and "English," the experiment itself had nothing to do with animals.
Secondly, AlphaGo was just a nickname the Chinese gave to the supercomputer AlphaGo. Since the pronunciation of "dog" and "Go" were basically the same, it spread like wildfire. In fact, AlphaGo was not a dog at all.
Finally, suppose there was indeed a dog named Alpha that became an elfin, but artificial intelligence was in the ascendant and was in a period of rapid growth. A lot of money and technology were pouring into this field, and everyone was optimistic about the development prospects of artificial intelligence in the 21st century. Therefore, the power of faith of this Alpha dog should be constantly condensing. How could it dissipate so quickly?
Combining the above three points, Zhang Zian concluded that his guess was wrong. This elfin could not be an artificial intelligence elfin.
Furthermore …
He took out his phone and entered the game interface.
If an elf in the game was a real artificial intelligence elf, it would be the [Navigation Elf].
AlphaGo was not qualified to be an elf. It was only at the initial stage of artificial intelligence. It was not cool enough.
"Navigation Elf, are you there?" he whispered into the phone and unmuted it, lowering the volume to a minimum.
[Navigation Elf]: At your service.
"Are you an artificial intelligence?" he asked again.
[Navigation Elf]: I am your navigation elf.
When Zhang Zian first downloaded the game, he thought that the Navigation Elfin was a 24-hour customer service provider, so the Navigation Elfin had passed the Turing Test.
Mr. Zhou was reading a book. He saw Zhang Zian talking to his phone out of the corner of his eye, so he kindly reminded him, "Young man, cell phones are not allowed here."
Zhang Zian smiled and turned off his phone. "I got it."
His eyes fell back on the computer screen. Seeing that the frequent visitors' questions had come to an end, he asked the second question in English.
[The Hottie]: What book?
The chatroom did not provide a private chat function, so all conversations had to be carried out in public.
Soon, the elf also replied in English, but it was still interspersed with a long string of numbers, which was strenuous to read and painful to the eyes.
[3.1415926]: My book. I want my book.
[The Hottie]: Is this book important?
[3.1415926]: Without the book, I will disappear from this world.
Seeing this, Zhang Zian finally felt relieved. It seemed that this book was the key to capturing the elfin.
Most of the others didn't think so. In their opinion, this person was completely alarmist and wanted to use this to gain attention. He might even want to donate something later. They were all people who loved books, but even so, they would not say something like "without the book, I will die."
Zhang Zian was very clear that the meaning of "disappearing" and "dying" were not the same. They could not be confused, but the others did not know.
Some people thought that the prankster might be suffering from some mental illness, especially girls like Coco, so they felt some sympathy for the prankster.
[Coco]: What is the title of the book? We can help you look for it.
[3.1415926]: There is no name.
[Coco]: There is no title? You should know what it is about, right?
For bookworms like them who spent all day in the library, finding books was their specialty. Even the library staff might not be better at finding books than them. Coco and the others were very confident that as long as the prankster told them the content of the book, they would be able to narrow it down to an acceptable level, and then they could further brainstorm and filter.
Zhang Zian knew that he was not as good as them in this aspect, so he just watched quietly.
[3.1415926]: Life, the universe, and everything.
[Coco]: Haha! I have read this book before! And you say there is no title? Isn't this the third book of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams? Wait, I will find it for you right away!
Not only her, but many of the regular readers had also read this classic science fiction novel. A few people left their chairs and walked quickly past Zhang Zian to the stairs. Some went to the second floor to look for the Chinese version, while others went to the third floor to look for the English version and other language versions. Usually, they were not so enthusiastic and active. This time, they just wanted to see the prankster's true colors. You claim that you will die without the book, so if we find the book for you, you have to come and get it, right?
Zhang Zian sat on the chair and did not move. He continued to think.
He felt that things were not so simple. Otherwise, it would not be so difficult to capture this elfin.
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