“Secondly it seems plausible that a person locked in a room with a radio to communicate with the outside world would eventually acquire intelligence without ever fully experiencing the world.”
Strongly disagree. If that was all he experienced in his life, the brain would not host a mind we would recognize as a healthy human.
A human is not a computer. A human life is not decomposable to purely language. This is not a ‘spiritual’ statement, it’s merely an observation that the mind takes in input and processes it far beyond in ways which we are able to describe in terms of language. Any modern terminology, at least. The mind needs experiences.
On lack of human contact: they’ve tried this in orphanages. Babies that don’t get human attention generally wither and die.
Are simulated experiences not experiences? What if they are indistinguishable from the real thing? Also see my response below - the claim is not that this guy locked in a room will surely be well adjusted and normal, just that it’s possible (though maybe not probable) for him to acquire intelligence.
Strongly disagree. If that was all he experienced in his life, the brain would not host a mind we would recognize as a healthy human.
A human is not a computer. A human life is not decomposable to purely language. This is not a ‘spiritual’ statement, it’s merely an observation that the mind takes in input and processes it far beyond in ways which we are able to describe in terms of language. Any modern terminology, at least. The mind needs experiences.
On lack of human contact: they’ve tried this in orphanages. Babies that don’t get human attention generally wither and die.