Hedonium's semantic problem

Abstract

The problem of understanding semantics from a purely syntactic process is examined. The author argues that only processes with symbols corresponding to objects in reality can be truly understood, since processes with symbols referring to nothing or to things that don’t exist in reality lack certain features that processes with symbols corresponding to real objects possess. This means that simply copying descriptions of happy states to create greater amounts of happiness throughout the universe might not result in an increase in genuine happiness, and creating simulations of humans in bad situations could create genuine suffering – a problem called ‘mind crimes’. – AI-generated abstract.