Marvin Minsky of MIT says that the next generation of computers will be so intelligent that we will `be lucky if they are willing to keep us around the house as household pets'. My all-time favorite in the literature of exaggerated claims on behalf of the digital computer is from John McCarthy, the inventor of the term 'artificial intelligence'. McCarthy says even 'machines as simple as thermostats can be said to have beliefs'. And indeed, according to him, almost any machine capable of problem-solving can be said to have beliefs. I admire McCarthy's courage. I once asked him: `What beliefs does your thermostat have?' And he said: `My thermostat has three beliefs -- it's too hot in here, it's too cold in here, and it's just right in here.' --- J. Searle, Minds, Brains & Science, 1984, pp.29-30