| I'll try again. I think that consciousness only exists in "ground reality", so if the universe is a simulation, consciousness can only enter it from ground reality. I think ground reality exists - it can't be "simulations all the way down". I'm assuming that we're in ground reality, but capable of developing realistic virtual realities. I'm not sure what can give rise to consciousness. I think it most likely that it's related to the ability to collapse quantum states, or in Everett's interpretation, decide which universe to be in. In that case, since the NPCs are unable to collapse quantum states, they cannot have consciousness although they behave exactly like someone who can. Alternatively, it might require information processing by real, physical hardware. In that case, CPUs and GPUs can be conscious as well as people, insects, and even thermostats. However, as CPUs and GPUs are processing completely different kinds of information from people, I'd expect them to have completely different qualia. What you appear to be saying is that NPCs aren't merely conscious but have qualia at least as similar to me as other people have, by virtue of them appearing to behave similarly to people. And I am saying that as they don't really process any information - they're just instructions and data being processed by computer hardware, that they can't be conscious any more than the characters in a book can be conscious whenever anyone reads the book. I probably haven't convinced you of anything, but I hope at least I've made my position clear. |