Just swap out LLMs for spiders.

A spider obviously "knows" how to build a spider web.

Does a spider "understand" how to build a spider web?

From a pragmatic theory of truth, a spider obviously "understands" how to build a spider web. A spider understands how to build a spider web much better than a human.

But when it comes to LLMs we start adding all this extra nonsense. As if the spider is blanket "smarter" than me because I can't spin a web. If the spider is "smarter" than me then it must also have this Cartesian theater of the mind like many people think they do.

It is layered philosophical misunderstandings to talk about LLMs in this way.

What could be an alternative explanation or approach for that spider? I’m out of loop, interested in what is currently academia trying to solve, thanks.