“I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer understands what the car and the adding machine understand, namely, exactly nothing.”
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My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.
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.
I am an artist. The track is my canvas, and the car is my brush.
Can you imagine a guy breaking into your car, and he steals your guitar case 'cause he thinks it's a guitar, and he gets it home and opens it up and there's a rake inside it, an electric toilet plunger and a dog skull? That actually happened.
