What does the formalist's motto$-"$If you take care of the syntax, the semantics will take care

of itself"$-$mean in the context of physical symbol systems?

The formal rules of a system cannot justify a definitive semantic interpretation of the system's states,

and so researchers cannot use the physical state transitions to understand what the machine is

actually doing in the world.

The formal rules of a system are self$-$interpreting.

Two formally equivalent systems have the same semantic interpretation.

Two formally equivalent systems have the same syntax.

The formal rules of system can be designed to preserve specific semantic properties associated with

the system's states or behaviors: such as truth or rationality.