One big question of science is how semantics emerge from syntax. The syntax is the form and relation of the information, semantics is th...
One big question of science is how semantics emerge from syntax. The syntax is the form and relation of the information, semantics is the meaning of the information. In the definition of semantics we just changed the word to another, semantics to meaning, we did not explain what semantics is. What is the meaning then?
Meaning is our personal experience of something. In this case, the meaning is subjective, opposition to syntax which can be defined objectively.
The Chinese room problem
In this classical philosophical thought experiment, we have a book with all the rules what the Chinese language has. We get Chinese symbols, and we can find an answer with the corresponding Chinese characters in the book to mimic the Chinese language. So we know Chinese. No. We just know the syntax of the Chinese language without any semantics of the characters.
Where the meaning come from then? The meaning is our experience related to the given syntax.
For example, we can define a very detailed model of what apple is. We can define its size, color, even what is made of, but this definition remains syntax only of the apple. To have the meaning of what apple is meant, we must have our personal senses to "feel" what is apple.
In this way, if a computer knows all the form and relation of the information what the apple is, still doesn't have the knowledge what the apple means until the computer starts to "feel" with its own senses and build personal experience what the apple is.
A computer never has the meaning of something if it doesn't have personal experience related to that something. And this must be the rule to us too. We can't have the meaning of red if we don't experience what is red, even if we define very precisely what red color is.
But this personal experience doesn't have to be direct, it can be indirect too. If we never tested an apple, we don't know its taste, but if somebody tells us that the apple is sour-sweet, we will have the meaning of the taste of an apple if we already experienced the sour-sweet kind of taste. A computer even if it "knows" that the apple is sour-sweet, it won't know the meaning of the taste of the apple because it never had the feeling, the personal experience of this taste.
If we want to build a computer to have semantics, not just syntax, we must build this computer to let it have its own senses and own personal experiences.
If we want to build a computer to have semantics, not just syntax, we must build this computer to let it have its own senses and own personal experiences.
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