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 the entire population of China were asked to simulate the action of one neuron in the brain, using telephones or walkie-talkies to simulate the axons and dendrites that connect neurons.

Early versions of this scenario were put forward in 1961 by Anatoly Dneprov,[1][2][3] in 1974 by Lawrence Davis,[4] and again in 1978 by Ned Block.

[7] The Chinese room scenario analyzed by John Searle,[8] is a similar thought experiment in philosophy of mind that relates to artificial intelligence.

In fact, the original short story The Game (1961) by the Soviet physicist and writer Anatoly Dneprov contains both the China brain and the Chinese room scenarios as follows: All 1400 delegates of the Soviet Congress of Young Mathematicians willingly agree to take part in a "purely mathematical game" proposed by Professor Zarubin.

[1][2][3] Many theories of mental states are materialist, that is, they describe the mind as the behavior of a physical object like the brain.

Suppose that the whole nation of China were reordered to simulate the workings of a single brain (that is, to act as a mind according to functionalism).