[sethev]

I think what it boils down to is that Searle believes consciousness is a real thing that exists in the universe. A simulation of a thing isn't the same as the thing itself, no matter how accurate the outputs. The Chinese Room argument just amplifies that intuition (my guess is that the idea of a room was inspired by the Turing Test).

I think studying the brain (as opposed to philosophical arguments) is the thing that will eventually answer these kinds of questions, though.