My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.

In many cases it is a matter for decision and not a simple matter of fact whether x understands y; and so on.

Our tools are extensions of our purposes, and so we find it natural to make metaphorical attributions of intentionality to them; but I take it no philosophical…

I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer understands what the car and the adding machine understand, namely, exactly nothing.