What Is It Like to Be a Brain Simulation?
arXiv Preprint Archive February 1, 2014 Eray Özkural
A brain simulation would likely have a different kind of subjective experience than a biological brain, according to this theoretical analysis. The paper evaluates how experience might differ under several hypotheses about consciousness and simulation properties, including general physicalist and panexperientialist perspectives. It examines the brain prosthesis thought experiment and identifies finer questions about whether a simulated brain could have experiences at all, and if so, how they would compare to biological experience. The authors argue that the differences depend on which metaphysical assumptions one adopts, with panexperientialism suggesting simulation could have a richer experiential character than physicalism allows.