“My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.”
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I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer understands what the car and the adding machine understand, namely, exactly nothing.
We often attribute 'understanding' and other cognitive predicates by metaphor and analogy to cars, adding machines, and other artifacts, but nothing is proved by such attributions.
There are people who own cars and are getting free cell phones. A car helps one find a job, too. Where do you draw the line?
I don't drive around London much. Any journey around Islington involves hundreds of speed bumps that seem to tear the bottom of your car off.
