What does it mean to be a Chinese Computer? While it has been heavily disputed in the past and then generally ignored today, I find John Searle’s “Chinese Room” thought experiment to be an interesting starting point to engage with as a Chinese person (I was born in Hong Kong). I am also curious about what it means philosophically and technologically for someone to understand a language, especially with the existence of language models such as GPT-3.

For 2022-2023 at LACMA, I am proposing to create a fully-immersive model of the Chinese Room where people can physically enter, with options to interact with “Chinese” digital humans through talking, typing, watching, listening, and more, as we explore the possibilities of existence and play within Web3 (Web2.5?).

Technologically, I am curious about combining digital human avatars (Metahumans in Unreal Engine) with GPT-3 (which will require a lot of other smaller things), maybe something like this example by Armaan Priyadarshan. https://youtu.be/wtv_043sIrg

Philosophically, I am curious about the difference between being on the “outside” of the Chinese Room as opposed to being inside of it, if cognition/consciousness was still indeed thought of in this Searlean way. That aside, in what ways can a digital avatar really be an extension of a human? What does it mean ontologically to converse with GPT-3? Are there philosophical differences between the way in which language is derived with GPT-3 and humans? What about the philosophical significance of driving and emoting a digital avatar using a facial mocap system? The list goes on, and I am more than curious to explore and research in this manner.

A rendition of “Chinese Room” occurred on March 28, 2022 at Automata, an artist-run gallery in Los Angeles, where the “Chinese Room” avatar was in conversation with “table”, a Chicago-based project where sincere and critical conversations would occur over custom-made dinners in the presence of resident artists’ fully installed work in the space. In our case, table, being hosted by Automata Theater, hosted Chinese Room, which then in turn hosted a lively durational conversation between two friends, using the avatar’s body as the “Room”, Chinese or not. This became a video installation in the gallery space while a custom made meal of faces (Beef Cheeks) and displaced and delicious food from no single cultural origin was organized into a custom 5 course meal throughout the night while we chatted about things which we otherwise would not have chatted about.

This rendition of the Chinese Room was important in the development of how a body, virtual or not, may act as a housing site for genuine human exchange and discourse. The “findings” are not totally complete, but there is a strong sense of where this work may head next, for which I am quite excited about.