The Experience Machine

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  Inverted spectrum

  Inverted spectrum is the apparent possibility of two people sharing their colour vocabulary and discriminations, although the colours one sees — their qualia — are systematically different from the colours the other person sees. The argument dates back to John Locke. It invites us to imagine that...
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  Rotating spheres

  Isaac Newton's rotating spheres argument attempts to demonstrate that true rotational motion can be defined by observing the tension in the string joining two identical spheres. The basis of the argument is that all observers make two observations: the tension in the string joining the bodies ...
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  Chinese room

  The Chinese room argument comprises a thought experiment and associated arguments by John Searle (1980), which attempts to show that a symbol-processing machine like a computer can never be properly described as having a "mind" or "understanding", regardless of how intelligently it may behave....
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  Buridan's ass

  Buridan's ass is a paradox in philosophy. It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein an ass, placed exactly in the middle between two stacks of hay of equal size and quality, will starve to death since it cannot make any rational decision to start eating one rather than the other. The paradox is...

• Changing places

  The changing places thought experiment was conceived of by Max Velmans, Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and was discussed in his 2000 work, Understanding Consciousness. The experiment was designed to demonstrate the difficulties in distinguishing...

• China brain

  In the philosophy of mind, the China brain thought experiment (also known as the Chinese Nation or Chinese Gym) considers what would happen if each member of the Chinese nation was asked to simulate the action of one neuron in the brain, using telephones or walkie-talkies to simulate the axons and...

• Violinist

  The Violinist is a famous thought experiment first posed by Judith Jarvis Thomson in 1971. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes her thought experiment as follows: In her introduction to her "Famous Violinist Problem", Thomson notes that much of the inadequate debate on abortion was...

• Utility monster

  The utility monster is a thought experiment in the study of ethics. It was created by philosopher Robert Nozick in 1974 as a criticism of utilitarianism. In the thought experiment, the idea of a monster is proposed who can turn resources into his own utility far more effectively than anyone else....

• Twin Earth thought experiment

  The Twin Earth thought experiment was presented by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his 1973 paper "Meaning and Reference" and subsequent 1975 paper "The Meaning of 'Meaning'", as an early argument for what has subsequently come to be known as semantic externalism. Since that time, philosophers have...

• Bucket argument

  Isaac Newton's rotating bucket argument (also known as "Newton's bucket") was designed to demonstrate that true rotational motion cannot be defined as the relative rotation of the body with respect to the immediately surrounding bodies. It is one of five arguments from the "properties, causes, and...