The symbolists’ core belief is that all intelligence can be reduced to manipulating symbols. A mathematician solves equations by moving symbols around and replacing symbols by other symbols according to predefined rules. The same is true of a logician carrying out deductions. According to this hypothesis, intelligence is independent of the substrate; it doesn’t matter if the symbol manipulations are done by writing on a blackboard, switching transistors on and off, firing neurons, or playing with Tinkertoys. If you have a setup with the power of a universal Turing machine, you can do anything.
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