I will argue that in the literal sense the programmed computer understands...
My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of...
We often attribute 'understanding' and other cognitive predicates by metaphor...
It just seemed too weird to me. I don't know maybe they were smoking a joint in the car downstairs from their parents' apartment. I had to go that far to put together a scenario of how they could have possibly recognized me.
