[Dylan16807]

> Searle's main point is that if I have a book that tells me how to respond and I never learn Chinese, then I do not understand Chinese. If you see a flaw in this reasoning, I am very interested.

You don't understand Chinese, but you are not the process. For the process to understand, it doesn't require any single component to understand like some variation on the homunculus.

And while it might seem obvious that the bulk of understanding can't be contained in a book, you don't really have a book in the Chinese room. Not if the room does a competent job. You have some kind of information-dense artifact that encodes an enormous understanding of Chinese in an inert form. A sweeping library that covers uncountable nuances in depth.

Or to phrase it as a direct attack on the argument: The book does have semantics. You don't need qualia to have semantics, especially not the definition of qualia where nobody can prove they exist.

[larryfreeman]

Thanks! I appreciate the explanation. I think that you put your finger on the major assumption of the argument.