You are equating or confusing appearance with essense.
An mp3 player that says "hello" is not greeting you, and you are not merely playing a recording of the sound "hello" at your neighbor.
A person can do many of the same outward actions as a machine. A machine can be made that carries rocks. You can also carry rocks. This does not make you really no different from a truck.
So a person can pattern-match, and write formulaically.
