Say we discover (somehow) that it's actually impossible to simulate a human-level conscious mind on inorganic substrate. What did we discover?
(e.g. we're running in a simulation, and a resolution limit prematurely halts Moore's Law; etc)
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Yes, the question is deliberately vague as posed. Still, some fun answers in the thread. My favorite so far, I think:
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Replying to @andy_matuschak
(OK, we're deep in sci-fi territory now)
Our brains don't actually do the processing needed for consciousness. They're just security tokens for getting processing power on the universal computer that simulates our world. "Organic substrate" is one of the authentication checks.
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Replying to @andy_matuschak
Consciousness is very easy to create with inorganic computers, but will be recognized and automatically destroyed by advanced aliens/the simulation computer. Messy meat-consciousness is convoluted and escapes their detection. Organic consciousness is a hack around safeguards.
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interesting in the context of resurgence of thin client/mainframe browser tech like