Billy Budd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Billy Budd - Essay Example As a result, he becomes popular at the main and sub-areas within the ship. Not known to many, this becomes a pivotal point for the problems. Despite Melville presenting an array of ideas about Billy Bud, the paper focuses on his intent to portray Melville as an influenced innocent person. The hindsight shows how Melville tries to guide readers into resolving the paradox. Arguably, Billy is affable, and the striking good look opens his doors for association with different people. He has not traversed the world, but can control the surrounding environment by attracting people with different looks. Based on the novel, he has never confronted evil at twenty-one years of age making him a saint rather than a sinner (Melville 25). The disturbing perception attracts reader’s attention. Nevertheless, in ordinary circumstances, nobody in the real world has failed to confront sin even at ten years. Many people kill small animals, hull abuses or even disregard their parent’s advice to do contrary things. Therefore, this prompts readers on how one remains innocent from a tender age to middle youth positions. It is unimaginable how one can reach the peak of his youthful age without making any wrong. From this perspective, Billy’s background raises many questions; however, this stops with Melville’s details. Apart from the perception that Billy Bud is innocent and has never done anything to affect his life. He also brings on board the good looks as a factor contributing to his problems. As a result of the charming and good look, many people around him like him. In this regards, Melville paints him as a good person who does not cause any problem except for the good looks. Because of the naivety, he believes everybody likes him and always him wish the best. Evidently, this perception remains adamant in a major part of the story where, Melville uses his knowledge to portray the good looks as a virtue (Melville 29). Certainly, the turn of events is imminent when Billy

Routing Protocol Security Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Routing Protocol Security - Dissertation Example The Pervasive nature of the existing information infrastructure when coupled with cyber terrorism related threats makes the security of the network infrastructure an area of interest for network or computer security researchers. While a significant amount of research has been done on the content of security information, and software development, securing of the network infrastructure has increasingly become an issue of concern over the years.   The key critical infrastructure security entails securing of the routing infrastructure. According to Jones & Moigne   (2006) abuse of routine protocol and mechanism is perhaps the simplest available protocol-based attack. Recently, the emergence response team highlighted the imminent need for ensuring that routing infrastructure becomes secured (Yasser, 2007). According to Russell (2003) routers are widely used by intruders as common platforms for activity scanning. They are also reported to be less protected by the security policy (Tanen baum,   2003). For purposes of routing, the infrastructure is often categorized into two domains. These are inter-domain and intra-domain (IETF, John & Moy, 1998). Generally, the whole routing infrastructure entails a collection of the intra-domain routing regions often connected through the inter-domain functionality (John, 2005). An intra-domain routing environment, which is commonly referred to as the Autonomous System, is often administered using an administrative authority (John, 2005). As often is the case, this authority owns routers.... These are inter-domain and intra-domain (IETF, John & Moy, 1998). Generally, the whole routing infrastructure entails a collection of the intra-domain routing regions often connected through the inter-domain functionality (John, 2005). An intra-domain routing environment, which is commonly referred to as the Autonomous System, is often administered using an administrative authority (John, 2005). As often is the case, this authority owns routers within its domain although this does not necessarily include all the links that connect all the intra-domain routers. Within an automated system, the routing protocols that are most commonly deployed in Autonomous System, are the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) alongside the Intermediate-System-to-Intermediate System routing protocols. The two protocols are based upon the link-state routing OSPF v2 Routing protocol, which is a link-state routing protocol that was developed purposely for the internet Protocol networks. OSPF is often based upon the relative cost of transferring the information between hops such as the networks and routers. This protocol is, most often than not, categorized into an interior-Gateway protocol with an intension of running it internally in the AS (Cisco Systems Inc, 2009). This protocol is mostly distributed in the AS amongst various routers and it provides an allowance for building similar representation of the network topology belonging to AS. This is often realized through publishing (LSAs) or Link state Advertisement by routers (Cisco Systems Inc, 2009). The routers then construct a tree of shortest-path to various destinations maintaining itself as a root. It then routes the IP packets via the internet basing on the IP addresses. If a topological change

Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Research paper - Essay Example The value and importance of IT field in any economy is also brought forward in this paper. The UAE, United Arabs Emirates, lies on the South-eastern side of Arabian Gulf. It occupies eighty three thousand six hundred square kilometers in the East of Arabian Peninsula. Some of the countries it shares boarders with include Qatar (north-western side), Saudi Arabia (Western and Southern sides) and Oman (Eastern and North-Eastern sides). The United Arabs Emirates, which is a federation of 7 emirates which were known as Trucial States, was established in 1971. The name â€Å"Trucial States† traces its roots from a perpetual Treaty of Maritime Truce signed by their rulers and the British In the eighteen fifties with its main aim being to keep and maintain peace at the sea especially during the pearling season. There was some uniqueness with the treaties they signed in that the British undertook their foreign affairs responsibilities and external defense while agreeing not to intervene in their internal affairs. There were some disputes and differences between the rulers o f the emirates. In 1971 British terminated the treaty having not treated the Trucial States like its other colonies and aiding nothing to the economic development of the country. UAE was therefore as a result of the rulers of the emirates realizing they could accomplish more united rather than divided hence they formed a federal state. Thirty years ago, there were very few tarmac roads. High rising buildings were virtually unknown. The larger part of the country was under developed. In the education sector, those living in major town were the only one accessing education. The illiteracy level was so high to an extent that out of a UAE population of about 180000, only 46 nationals had a University degree (Kirkwood, 1995), most of which had been acquired in

Professional Interview Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Professional Interview - Research Paper Example Authors such as Reilly (2012) have established a relationship between effective leadership and the success in business systems in a country. The author argues that knowledge and skills in a country, which can empower leadership, are significant to the country’s economic development. Leadership roles exist at different levels at which decision-makers offer their professionalism (Nabli, 2011). To facilitate the study of leadership capacity in Nigeria, this essay will focus on an interview response from a Nigerian professional, ‘Usman Olaide’ who is a Senior Client Service Consultant and a Business Development Executive at Field Communication Ltd. The interview focuses on the role of leadership in promoting crises and leadership strategies for preventing or managing crises when they occur in the Nigerian business environment. Consequently, it will be possible to evaluate any impacts of the leadership that exists to the business crisis in this country. Usman identifie s the role of leadership in integrating different industries in the corporate sector for accountability in management because observed crises in the Nigeria’s business environment results from negligent actions from single industries or organizations and spread to affect the entire economy. Referring to Martin Oluba’s analysis of the equity market crisis (N.d.) and her experience in sources of crises in the Nigerian business environment, Usman explains that industries are interrelated and poor leadership in one industry, leading to a crisis in the industry, affects other industry’s performance. The finance industry is the most significance because it is the center of power for circulation of money across other industries as was observed in the equity market crisis. While poor leadership in the equity market led to its crisis, Usman explains that the move by the industry’s players to seek funds from private holdings influenced businesses in other sectors t o seek similar targets for rescue and culminated into the crisis. In her analysis of the scenario that is a perfect example of the role of weak leadership in business crisis, the interviewee argues that regulatory framework, both legal and moral, should be put in place to ensure credible and competent centralized leaderships that can preempt crisis in their respective industries and develop preventive measures. She also argues that a collaborative initiative among leaders from respective industries in regulating activities and risks in each industry can also play an effective role in containing crises from spreading to other industries, should such crises occur in a given industry (Usman, O, personal communication, August 16, 2013). Usman also argues that leadership offered by relevant government agencies play a significant role in management of financial crises in the Nigerian corporate environment. Agencies whose roles relate to macroeconomic aspects such as the Central Bank of Ni geria must be explicit in their roles to guide corporate operations and regulate the economic environment for stability. She explains that poor decisions on factors such as interest rates and consequences in high inflation rates are detrimental to businesses and the central bank should develop effective strategies for economic stability. The interviewee also relates such government regulations to the sensitive finance sector that has potential effects on other sectors and industry. In agreement with John, Adaeze, Soni, and Onoriode

Kant Moral Ethics Essay Example for Free

Kant Moral Ethics Essay Immanuel Kants moral theory can be best explained by comparing it to a math equation. Kants moral system will always hold true no matter what the circumstance just like how two plus two will always equal four. According to Kant, our lives should be lived according to maxims that can be willed into universal law (Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, p 303). However the action regarding a moral decision is not judged by the consequences of that action, rather by the motive of that action. Kants the method of moral reasoning starts off by first realizing the principle the rational agent is acting under. To fully understand what this means, a rational agent is to be defined as an entity who is capable of making rational decisions regardless of their natural inclinations. This condition excludes such examples as, animals, infants, and people in a coma from being considered to be a rational agent because they do not show the capacity to reason. After realizing the principle the person is acting under, determine if the reason is morally right. In order to determine if the maxim is ethical and able to be willed into universal law, it must pass three tests: autonomy, respect for humanity, and the kingdom of ends. Autonomy describes the feeling of accomplishment. This can be illustrated as a man who promises his wife that he will take off the weekend from golfing and file their tax reports. By keeping his promise to his wife he not only feels the satisfaction from finishing their tax report but also, more importantly feels good about following through with his promise. Autonomy is important because if the husband breaks his promises and lives his life as a promise breaker then this maxim is clearly self-defeating. The entire maxim of promising to break promises does not pass the test of autonomy therefore could never be passed as a universal law. However, if after passing the autonomy test, then a principle must also respect everyone elses autonomy. In order to respect humanity, make decisions that show an overall concern for rational agents. If by treating them as a rational agent, then the principle will not affect another persons ability rationalize. In order to do this, it is never acceptable to treat a rational being as merely a means (Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, p 307). That is to say, the act of rape treats the rational agent as a means to sexual gratification. The act of rape does not respect the agent as a rational being and could never be willed into a moral universal law. However if a principle was able to pass the first two conditions, then it is necessary to subject it to the kingdom of ends test. The kingdom of ends is composed of a group of rational agents all with different objectives in life. The importance of having different objectives in life insures that all perspectives and backgrounds have been covered. These agents have been given the responsibility of creating a free society. A free society entails laws that every rational agent in that society would agree upon. If the principle is not a measure that the kingdom of ends would enact, then the principle, by Kants definition, is immoral. Let us analyze the principle of apathy. Living an apathetic life does indeed pass the test of autonomy and by showing indifference to other rational agents it also passes the test of humanity. However, apathy would not pass the kingdom of ends, as no rational being would accept such a maxim. As a result, an apathetic life could not be passed as universal law. As an example, we will refer back to the persecution of Jews during World War II. Say a man is hiding a Jew in his house and the Gestapo comes knocking on door. However, as the Gestapo questions the man of the whereabouts of the Jew, the man cannot lie and say that no one is hiding within his house, but at the same time, if he were to tell the truth he would be indirectly bringing harm upon himself and the Jew. The man should question the Gestapo about what they plan on doing to the Jew once they have located him. According to Kant, consequences have no relevance, although if all possible consequences were known, then it would be permissible to lightly take them into account. Since telling the truth by giving the Gestapo the whereabouts of the Jew would bring direct harm, it is permissible to lie. The maxim would be to never lie unless the truth results direct or indirect harm. This maxim respects autonomy and human nature and would be pass the kingdom of ends test and thus can be willed into universal moral law. Now take the case of Harry and Sally, according to Kantian moral reasoning, should Sally seduce Harry? If Sally were to seduce Harry by taking him back to her place and having sex with him, she would be using him as a means to her ends. By Sally using Harry simply as a means to achieve her ends, that moral decision is breaking a fundamental Kantian principle. Using people as only a means is never acceptable. The difference between Sally seducing Harry into sex and Sally having consensual sex with Harry is the difference of deception and coercion. According to Mappes, deception and coercion are the methods for sexually using someone (Mappes, Sexual Morality, p. 166). The whole idea is based off the respect for an individual person to voluntarily make their own decisions. By deceiving someone, it is clearly misleading a person to make a decision that they would not have made, had it been on their own regard. However the objection can be made that Sally should do what ultimately brings her pleasure. Using Utilitarian morality, something that results in the greater pleasure, or avoidance of harm, of the populations involved is morally correct. Even though Harry is somewhat apprehensive of the whole casual sex idea, he is not defiant or strongly against it. It can even be reasoned that Harry might even enjoy himself once him and Sally are having sex. And also, casual sex is perfectly okay if there is no lying, deceiving, or exploiting (Elliston, In Defense of Promiscuity, p. 170). I believe Ellistons definition of deceiving is different that Kants definition. Kant covers all and any type of deception as immoral. Elliston agrees that deception is indeed immoral, but his definition of deception would be a man telling a woman he does not have herpes when indeed he does. As long as sex is consensual, there is no harm. Sally would only be seducing Harry back to her house under, say, the premise to watch a movie, however when the actual act of intercourse happens, Harry is not being deceived at all. Even with the arguments above, Sally would ultimately be using Harry simply as a means to achieve her ends of sexual pleasure. By using Kantian morality, Sally should not pressure Harry to going home with her nor should she try to seduce him. Kant reasons that human beings have been given this gift of free will to act as the dividing line between humans and animals. Animals are considered animals because they lack the ability to rationalize. What then, is the ultimate value and purpose of having a free will? If the point of having a free will was to seek pleasure and avoid harm, then we are nothing more than animals and have wasted this ability to reason. Instead, humans have free will so they could follow moral law. Therefore, follow moral law even in situations where social laws or natural inclinations could conflict. By following Kants moral reasoning, what we do in our lives is right not only because we ourselves believe it to be right but also since we have willed it to become universal law, it could not possibly be wrong. The maxims that we base our lives on are intrinsically good because we are able to will it into universal law. Therefore, moral decisions made using Kants ideas can be applied universally. Kants ideas show respect for humanity and peoples decisions are not made for selfish pleasure seeking reasons by treating people as a means, but rather they are made based on universal morals and by treating everybody as an rational agent. By following Kants moral reasoning a rational agent will be able to make the right decision when faced with any type of moral dilemma.

Metaphysics and Nominalism Essay Example for Free

Metaphysics and Nominalism Essay Metaphysics shares a breadth of problems concerning ‘universals’. One view that addresses these problems is nominalism. Nominalism is the position that universals do not exist outside the mind. There are different sects of nominalism that expresses various stances about the problem at hand. Austere nominalism, metalinguistic nominalism, and trope theory are the various types of nominalism that refute the claim of realism. Each of these types of nominalism contain their own respective views towards universals and have their own strengths and weaknesses. Austere nominalism, metalinguistic nominalism, and trope theory have many similarities and differences as well as strong points that support the nominalist perspective. Austere nominalism takes the stance that the only things that exist are concrete particulars. These concrete particulars are a category of individuals like individual persons, individual objects, individual animals, or various other individual materials. â€Å"What the austere nominalist wants to claim is that an ontology of concrete particulars provides the resources for dealing with all the phenomena the metaphysical realist claims presuppose an ontology of multiply exemplifiable entities† (Loux 53). The austere nominalist refutes the realist claim that universals are necessary and serve as handling the phenomena of attribute agreement. Rather the austere nominalist’ claim is that the issue needn’t be explained at all. Nominalists believe that realism does not contain more explanatory power than nominalism. Thus, it is much wiser to adopt nominalism because it is much simpler without universals. The leading issue with austere nominalism is that the proponent of universals and attribute agreement are to be ignored without much explanation. The notion that they are unnecessary complications may not seem like a sufficient enough explanation to combat the ideals of realists. However, the benefit to the austere nominalist theory offers a very simplistic approach towards the ideas of attributes and predication. Overall, austere nominalism offers an ontologically simpler metaphysical explantion, but realism may be explanatorily simpler. Metalinguistic nominalism takes into consideration the usage of language when addressing the issue of universals. Metalinguistics nominalists see universals as references about language and not objects. They want universality to be understood linguistically using predicativity for example, when referencing ‘humanity’ the reference is towards human individuals. It is in this view that abstract referencing takes on a different form. It disguises itself as an object language sentence, but is actually a claim about a linguistic expression. This beholds the idea that abstract references like ‘triangular’ is a shape predicate. Metalinguistic nominalism presents a couple problems in its ideology. The fact that the linguistic expressions are talked about in the terms of ‘types’, this notion would make them universals as well. This is unfortunate since the metalinguistic nominalist is trying to eliminate universals altogether. In addition to this problem, another issue arises with the subjectivity of language. The theory does not take into account the possibility of other languages. When an English speaker is talking, they are referring to an English word. Two words of equivalent meaning would not be referenced in the same way according to metalinguistic nominalism. Rather they would both be considered two different words. However, in light of metalinguistic nominalism it does offer a workaround to address the issues of multiple languages. Sellars devised a punctuation that would focus on the equivalent meaning of the word to be addressed rather than the word itself. The punctuation came in the form of a single dot placed on both sides of the word being addressed. Metalinguistic nominalism also offers a bit of clarity in the issue of referring to multiple individuals through the use of distributive singular terms. In the issue of addressing multiple concrete particulars it utilizes a singular term to take possession for all individuals being referenced. For example, ‘American citizen’ in â€Å"The American citizen has freedom of speech† is the distributive singular term. Trope theory is unlike austere and metalinguistic nominalism in the essence that trope theory allows for the use of attributes in its ontology. However, this is not like the belief realist hold which also possesses that attributes are multiply exemplifiable. Trope theorists believe in the opposite. They believe that attributes are not only not multiply exemplifiable, but that they are also particulars. It is believed in trope theory that it is impossible for anything else to possess the same attribute as another. A concerning attribute of trope theory is the fact that it may not sufficiently address the similarity between two different attributes. Trope theorists will argue that two different tropes may be similar and may be the reason why two concrete particulars may appear similar. This doesn’t however, bridge a connection between commonalities between two similar objects. However, tropes offer an elegant approach to the issue of properties. While lacking zero properties themselves, they help define an object without the ontology of particulars and universals. This makes tropes a possibly powerful tool for a nominalist. In contrast to each other, austere nominalism, metalinguistic nominalism, and trope theory are differing forms of nominalism that contain various differences. Whilst all combatting the problems and complexities of universals, they each have ways in which they combat it. Austere nominalists are able to address the issue of universals by denying the existence of them and the notion that they have to be dealt with altogether. This is a very simplistic approach and avoids the need to addressing the phenomena of addressing attribute agreement. Metalinguistic nominalism is able to do the same by changing the phrase of universals into a linguistic reference. This viewpoint also avoids addressing the existence of universals and states that they are just disguised as linguistic expressions. Syntactical and grammatical tools allow for predicativity on several different objects to be used as universality. Lastly, trope theory takes a unique position against universals. Tropes almost seem to take on the appearance of universals in their ability to describe and object, but stray away in the notion that they are particulars themselves. While still being able to provide the descriptive nature of universals, tropes are still very different and add to the nominalist box of tools. Most intriguing of the forms of nominalism is metalinguistic nominalism. While eliminating the problem with universals, it seems to combat the issue in the least aggressive way. Terms that would be considered to be ‘universals’ still have their place in metalinguistic nominalism since they mostly come to be predicates. In addition to the problems that metalinguistic nominalism brings about with the issue of multiple languages, it combats it with a useful punctuation created by Sellars. Each of the forms of nominalism all focus around the problem of universals and realist theory. They combat them through the usage of very different means. Altogether they bring an alternate view aside from realism in three different perspectives. In address to the realist view Alan Watts stated, â€Å"The menu is not the meal†.

Chinese Room Argument

Chinese Room Argument Searles Chinese Room argumentfails because the room proves nothing Abstract Searle argues that without understanding, computers can never really have mental states. Searles argument that computers can never have understanding depends onhow he portrays the Chinese room. If we pick apart the rooms imitation process, we find that there is a computer-simulation defect and as a result the room would never pass the Turing test. We could of course let the man fix the defect. He would need to remember and change what he does as a result of what he experiences and this, I claim, is precisely what it needs to achieve intentionality. Intentionality, as Searle states, is what distinguishes mental states from physical ones. Given that there is intentionality in the room, it then becomes clear that understanding appears. Searle may counter-claim that the room itself can fix its own defects; but as the room has no semantic understanding and only syntactic translation, we can infer that the room mustve anticipated every question with a predetermined instruction. If a finite room has the capacity to predict every possible question in the universe as well as know the events of the future, then the room is ineffable. If there is understanding, or the room is simply ineffable, then the room proves nothing and Searles argument fails. Essay Searles famous Chinese Room Argument has been the target of great interest and debate in the philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence and cognitive science since its introduction in Searles 1980 article ‘Minds, Brains and Programs. It is no overstatement to assert that the article has been the centre of attention for philosophers and computer scientists for quite some time. Preston and Bishop (2002) is a perfect example of exclusivity into the ongoing debate regarding the Chinese Room, because the significance and importance of the Chinese Room is meant to be obvious. The Chinese Room is supposed to scuttle the thought of strong AI: which implies that computers have mental states. The Chinese Room arises out of the following, now familiar, story: Searle asks us to imagine that a man is seated in a sealed room with 2 doors: one allowing input from one source outside the room (in the form of a slot) and one allowing output to the source outside the room (also in the form of a slot). The input from the outside source are Chinese squiggles that have been printed on card, but to the man in the room they are nothing more than incomprehensible gibberish(since he does not know the first thing about Chinese). The man is told that upon receiving the input squiggles, he must open a heavily-indexed reference book, wherein he must scrupulously track down the squiggle he received and find the matching squiggle of another sort. Once the man finds the matching squiggle, he must record it on an output piece of card and send it back through the output doors slot. Unknowingly the man has just performed some sort of translation that is altogether opaque to his understanding. To the outside source, the Chinese room as a whole, is a sort of system and is being treated as a subject of a Turing test. The interested parties of the outside source are typing in questions in Chinese and receiving answers in Chinese. If the Chinese room is of good quality, then it should be possible to convince the interested parties that the room, or something inside it, is intelligent, thus suggested that the room, or something inside it, could pass the Turing. Searle suggests that this is an error, as the man in the room does not have any conscious states that exhibit and sort of understanding of the questions that he receives. To him it is all just squiggles. It seems, therefore, that the Turing test is not a reliable way of ascertaining true thought, and moreover that any machine exhibiting such a formal architecture, no matter how complex, could never be called intelligent in the way that we mean. Certainly it might simulate intelligence impressively, but Searle suggests th at this is precisely the problem, since it means only that we have an automata that is extremely good at fooling our test. Therefore, the Chinese Room argument appears to contain the following argument: 1. The room occupant knows no Chinese. 2. The room occupant knows English. 3. The room occupant is given sets of written strings of Chinese, {Ci, Cj,†¦, Cn} 4. The room occupant is given formal instructions in English that correlate pairs of sets of Chinese strings, hCi, Cji. 5. The room occupant is given formal instructions in English to output some particular Ci given a particular Cj. 6. The room occupants skill at syntactically manipulating the strings of Chinese is behaviourally indistinguishable from that of a fully competent speaker of Chinese. 7. If 1-6 are jointly possible, then syntax is not sufficient for mental content. 8. 1-6 are jointly possible. 9. Therefore, syntax is not sufficient for mental content. Searles contention is that no matter what may happen, the man in the room will never understand any of the Chinese. Searle takes this to broadly mean that formal architectures, such as our great look-up book, can never produce understanding, because real thought requires semantics—meaning—whereas the book gives us only syntax, or relation. Unfortunately, what the Chinese Room argument really implies about mental states and strong AI has always been a matter of great controversy. Much of the controversy and debate today comes from how Searle is challenged. The two most obvious ways to challenge Searle can be understood to be versions of what is known as the systems reply to the Chinese Room argument. The first is to challenge premise (8) of Searles argument by asserting that (1-6) are inconsistent due to premise (1) being incorrect -concluding that, in some sense, the man in the room actually knows Chinese in some important sense when we carefully consider all the details of Searles argument. The second is to challenge premise (7) of Searles argument by asserting that (1-6) are consistent but that the room understands Chinese even if the occupant does not. Searle intelligently built the Chinese Room so that those who try to pick-apart his argument with a systems response get tangled up in a web of truth in regard to strong AI or more specifically, what is understanding. A systems response simply asserts that the man in the room knows Chinese because the mans formal manipulations, or the operations of the man and the room as a whole, are structurally identical to a native Chinese speakers formal manipulations. Searles counter-argument is that if the man memorized the program, then the program has become part of the man—but for the program, which understands Chinese, the man is still simply providing the hardware on which it runs. One might attempt to apply a subtle version of the system, commonly called a virtual mind reply. Yet virtual mind replies, like system replies, do not prove that strong AI is true either: they provide no evidence that the system (or the virtual mind) understands Chinese, other than the hypothetical premise that it passes the Turing Test. Searles argument remains, for neither the systems or virtual minds succeed at challenging Searles argument. That is because both replies have tried to find understanding in the room. Thats a mistake, its playing into Searles hands, as understanding simply isnt there. Understanding is not missing because computers cant have it. Its missing because the claim that Searles claim that the Chinese room can simulate what computers can do is false. The rooms computer-imitation is so flawed that the claim that the Chinese room can produce the appearance of understanding Chinese is also false. We can easily show that there is a defect in the room when we pick apart the computer-imitation (or the rooms process), with a conversation that might take place: Dominic: Hello there. Before we begin our conversation, Id just like to point out that from here on in Im going to use the word ‘hot to mean good looking. Chinese Room: No problem, I speak slang now and then too. Dominic: I heard your cars cooling system was overheating. Did you think that your cars engine was getting too hot? Chinese Room: No the temperature was fine. Dominic: Talking about cars, did you see the yellow Ferrari parked outside your house yesterday! Dont you think Ferraris are hot cars? Chinese Room: Yes, Ferraris are commonly hot due to their high-performance engine components. The reason the room cant handle this sort of thing is that it cannot write anything that the man in the room can read. According to Searle, it can only write Chinese characters which Searle cannot read. Which is why it cannot remember things like the â€Å"hot† car. If we gave the room the right machinery so that the man in the room has the ability to change the script (similarly compared to a computer changing its own program), then the man would, essentially, be changing the rooms behaviour in response to events. Admittedly, giving the room the right machinery so the man could do this is more complicated than having a giant heavily-indexed book do all the processing, but it would remove the computer-simulation defect. Furthermore, it certainly would make intentionality possible. And it is intentionality that, according to Searle (1980) and Brentano (1874/1973), distinguishes mental states from physical ones. And, if the room had the machinery, or the fundamentals, to produc e intentionality, then the room could be made to understand. According to Searle (1980), intentionality exists in internal states if they are â€Å"directed at or about objects and states of affairs in the world†. This means, to me, that internal states can change appropriately when they are â€Å"directed at† changes. For example, if I always thought that the Chinese room was painted â€Å"green† and I found out that the room was actually painted â€Å"white†, then the Chinese rooms would think that my intentionality is lacking because my â€Å"thoughts of the room† change upon learning of a colour change. Yet, the rooms â€Å"thoughts about me† also lack intentionality because they cannot change when I tell the room that Im temporarily using â€Å"hot† differently. There are other mental states that have intentionality for similar reasons. For example, what gives my belief that â€Å"All elephants are grey† intentionality is that, after I see a few black elephants, my belief can change appropriately, to maybe â€Å"All elephants are grey or black†. Yet not all changes produced by experience are sufficiently complex or flexible enough to count toward intentionality. parent knows. http://degreesofclarity.com/writing/chineseroom/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chinese-room/