Cognitive Scientist Debates: Can AI Truly Understand Without a Vulnerable Body?
rp_tiago · reddit · 2026-07-31
The post explores Hubert Dreyfus's classic philosophical argument: human intelligence is rooted in bodily coping and social engagement rather than explicit rules. While current LLMs exhibit high flexibility, they merely learn from textual records left by humans.
Referencing a podcast with cognitive scientist Julian Kiverstein, the author highlights that although LLMs learn patterns from human data, they lack direct bodily interaction with the environment. Kiverstein argues this means their relationship to the world is fundamentally different, and successful performance alone doesn't prove true understanding.
This raises a core question: if we equip AI with multimodal training and robotic feedback, or let it learn in physical environments for years, what else is required to consider it truly understanding?
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