Quote Originally Posted by Xei View Post
Clearly there's something wrong here, because any program contains finite information. The error is that the universe you simulate will have a loss in fidelity (as you can't use every particle in existence to run the simulation), meaning you need more and more matter in each simulation to simulate the same thing.
Didn't think about it that way. Makes sense. Thank you.

This is a major and problematic issue in philosophy of mind. I feel compelled to say yes; I think the people who say 'no' (see the 'China brain' thought experiment) are erroneously forgetting that the soul is not some kind of perfect, detached object. The 'soul' (let's say 'consciousness' to be more precise and scientific) arises from processes in the brain which are emulated in our neurons. It seems absurd to suggest that the water and protein and fats and ions et. al. are the necessary factor for consciousness; the sensible solution is that it is the processes themselves, regardless of how they are physically embodied (a brain made of neurons, or of wooden parts, or of silicon microchips), are what is important.
That's what I think. But do we consider them one collective being or several individual ones? On one level they'd be entirely seperate 'programs' or algorithms but in 'reality' they'd all be based off one processor.