Chinese room argument - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

In a collection titled for “views into” this argument, the philosopher who originally devised it reiterates that it demonstrates how “syntax is not semantics.” For 10 points each:

[10m] Name this argument that prompted the “System Reply” and the “Many Mansions Reply.” This argument imagines its creator being given “a script,” “a story,” and “questions.”

ANSWER: Chinese room argument

[10e] The Chinese room argument was created by John Searle to refute the “strong” form of this technology. Ethicists and tech experts have called for encoding this technology with human values through “alignment.”

ANSWER: AI [or artificial intelligence]

[10h] In a parody of the argument, this thinker jokes that since cakes are crumbly, recipes are insufficient for making a cake. This thinker and Andy Clark imagine a man with Alzheimer’s using a notebook as part of his mind in The Extended Mind.

ANSWER: David Chalmers

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Summary


Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	14.00	100%	40%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	7	14.29	100%	29%	14%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	1	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	9	17.78	100%	67%	11%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	5	12.00	100%	20%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	6	15.00	100%	50%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	12	15.83	92%	50%	17%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	6	21.67	100%	100%	17%

Data


CWRU B	Michigan State	0	10	0	10
Michigan A	Ohio State C	10	10	0	20
CWRU A	Pittsburgh	0	10	0	10
Liberty C	James Madison B	0	10	0	10
Liberty A	VCU	0	10	0	10
Liberty B	James Madison A	0	10	0	10
South Carolina A	North Carolina C	0	10	0	10
South Carolina B	Wake Forest	0	10	0	10
Virginia Tech A	Virginia Tech B	10	10	0	20
William and Mary	Virginia	10	10	10	30
NC State A	North Carolina B	0	10	0	10
Ohio State A	Michigan B	0	10	0	10
Ohio State B	Michigan C	10	10	0	20
Northwestern B	Chicago D	10	10	0	20
Chicago E	Indiana C	0	10	0	10
Indiana A	Illinois B	10	10	10	30
Notre Dame A	Illinois C	10	10	0	20
Indiana B	Notre Dame B	10	10	0	20
Northwestern C	Northwestern D	0	10	0	10
Purdue A	Chicago C	10	10	0	20
Chicago A	Illinois A	10	10	0	20
Chicago B	Purdue B	0	10	0	10
Southern Connecticut State	Bowdoin A	0	10	0	10
Yale	Brandeis B	0	10	0	10
Brown	Dartmouth A	10	10	0	20
Louisville B	Tennessee A	0	10	0	10
WashU A	Alabama B	10	10	0	20
WashU B	Tennessee B	0	10	0	10
Kentucky	Sewanee	10	10	0	20
Louisville A	Alabama A	0	10	0	10
Bruin	Mississipi State	10	10	0	20
UCL	Birmingham	10	10	10	30
Bristol	Manchester	0	10	0	10
Cambridge B	Cambridge A	0	10	0	10
Cambridge C	Cardiff	10	10	0	20
City St. George's	Oxford C	0	0	0	0
Oxford A	Edinburgh A	10	10	0	20
Edinburgh B	Imperial B	10	10	0	20
LSE	Southampton A	0	10	0	10
Durham	Montpellier	10	10	0	20
Oxford B	Warwick B	10	10	10	30
Imperial C	Southampton B	0	10	0	10
Warwick A	Imperial A	0	10	0	10
Bowdoin B	Dartmouth B	0	10	0	10
MIT	Harvard B	0	10	0	10
NYU C	Catholic	10	10	0	20
John Jay	Vassar	10	10	0	20
Maryland B	Johns Hopkins B	10	10	0	20
NYU A	Johns Hopkins A	10	10	10	30
Maryland A	NYU B	10	10	0	20
Georgetown	Rutgers A	10	10	0	20