Episode
John Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs - Why People Think AIs Think - Sadler's Lectures
- Podcast
- Sadler's Lectures
- Published
- Jul 18, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 906
- Processing state
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Summary
This lecture discusses key ideas John Searle's article "Minds, Brains, & Programs", first published in The Behavioral And Brain Sciences In 1980, considered to be an important contribution to theorizing about the possibility and nature of artificial intelligence, not least by introducing his famous "Chinese Room" thought experiment. Specifically it examines his discussion near the end of his initial contribution, which sets out his speculations about why people think that computers running programs can actually think or understand, when according to him they cannot. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 4500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Get John Searle, Minds, Brains, & Programs here - https://home.csulb.edu/~cwallis/382/readings/482/searle.minds.brains.programs.bbs.1980.pdf