Read the title a little more closely :) As far as we know computation actually can simulate consciousness:
- given any system of quantum particles, a sufficiently large Turing machine can solve the matching system of Schrodinger equations
- the human body, including the brain, is certainly a system of quantum particles
- even if you think quantum behavior is directly relevant to consciousness (I don't) certainly there is nothing "beyond" quantum mechanics that would be necessary to explain it, so our system of Schrodinger equations should be able to model human consciousness
- so a Turing machine can simulate a human, including consciousness
The paper argues that this simulation of consciousness is not the same thing as actual consciousness.
You are right, of course I was in a rush to type, so I misspoke. What I meant to say is that computational simulations of consciousness may make it impossible for anyone to definitively diagnose whether it is a simulation or real consciousness. So, computational simulation of consciousness may render any consciousness detection tools useless. Again, my apologies for my earlier mistake.
- given any system of quantum particles, a sufficiently large Turing machine can solve the matching system of Schrodinger equations
- the human body, including the brain, is certainly a system of quantum particles
- even if you think quantum behavior is directly relevant to consciousness (I don't) certainly there is nothing "beyond" quantum mechanics that would be necessary to explain it, so our system of Schrodinger equations should be able to model human consciousness
- so a Turing machine can simulate a human, including consciousness
The paper argues that this simulation of consciousness is not the same thing as actual consciousness.