Symbol-pushing

Reasoning by equivalence is essentially a symbol-pushing technique, which reduces algebraic reasoning to a mechanical calculation. There is nothing pejorative in describing this activity as symbol-pushing or as mechanical: in some senses this automation is liberating.

Perhaps no mechanistic symbol-pushing system could ever produce behavior that matched that of humans—after all, not all kinds of mechanisms can be used to produce all kinds of results.

Personally I think I would have to accept any computer that were to pass the Turing Test as intelligent. Human use of language is so intricate and so laden with meaning that I don't believe this test could ever be passed without real understanding of what is being said. I tend to doubt, however, that any traditional rule-following, symbol-pushing computer will ever pass the test.