Or a more succinct question: why do you think a simulation of consciousness is the same as consciousness? What other simulations of things are identical with the things?
I think that a sufficiently accurate simulation of a system exhibits the same emerging properties as the system itself.
For example, if I can perfectly simulate the weather in some simple planet, all possible emerging weather phenomena for that planet (say like clouds, rain etc) will be perfectly replicated in the simulation. Similarly, if we can perfectly simulate a human body, all of the emerging human phenomena will exist in the simulation (muscle movement, nerve impulses, brain patterns resulting in consciousness etc). I don't think consciousness is fundamentally different from other physical phenomena, it's just a particularly complex example.
Another angle to think about: We can't prove that we're not living in a simulation (or can you?). So our consciousness itself might be simulated for all we know. This is not a proof that we are amenable to being simulated, but it means that disproving it is very hard or impossible.
You lost me. You think consciousness is a _physical_ phenomenon that would necessarily emerge from an accurate _simulation_ of a particle system? If it’s a physical phenomenon in reality, then just like the clouds and rain in your weather sim aren’t physical, only a simulation of consciousness will be present in your simulation.
For example, if I can perfectly simulate the weather in some simple planet, all possible emerging weather phenomena for that planet (say like clouds, rain etc) will be perfectly replicated in the simulation. Similarly, if we can perfectly simulate a human body, all of the emerging human phenomena will exist in the simulation (muscle movement, nerve impulses, brain patterns resulting in consciousness etc). I don't think consciousness is fundamentally different from other physical phenomena, it's just a particularly complex example.
Another angle to think about: We can't prove that we're not living in a simulation (or can you?). So our consciousness itself might be simulated for all we know. This is not a proof that we are amenable to being simulated, but it means that disproving it is very hard or impossible.