Submitted by [deleted] t3_11aedho in singularity
https://consc.net/papers/qualia.html
The fading qualia experiment imagines a scenario where part of a person's brain is simulated and is hooked up to the rest of the brain via a cybernetic interface so that the biological part cannot tell that the other part is being simulated.
What this experiment illustrates is that if only biological substrates were conscious, then the biological part of the brain would be experiencing a state of consciousness that contradicted its physical state. Essentially if a computer were able to compute the exact functions of neurons then it would have to be conscious. Perhaps there is an as-of-now undiscovered element to neuronal activity that is incomputable which would cause this hypothetical system to collapse thus preventing this paradox.
To make an analogy, I think consciousness is like gravity. An observer cannot tell the difference between real or simulated gravity. The force experienced in a constantly accelerating room is exactly the same as the force caused by gravity. In the same way, it is logical to assume that any system that generates the same information exchange at the resolution in which human consciousness emerges, must experience human consciousness.
turnip_burrito t1_j9rj81h wrote
Maybe, who can tell?