[andybak]

> Isn't that precisely what it means?

Maybe or maybe not. This is the nub of the debate. I would argue that answering "yes" to this is a partial endorsement of pan-psychism. If the ability to experience qualia is property of certain algorithms or types of information flow then it's a fundemental property of the universe.

Thought experiments about p-zombies and mind simulation are an interesting litmus test to separate different points of view on this.