These estimates are based on my view that a model based only on the firing of neurons can achieve a working brain simulation. It is nonetheless conceivable—though this is a philosophical question that can’t be scientifically tested—that subjective consciousness requires a more detailed simulation of the brain. Perhaps we would need to simulate the individual ion channels inside neurons, or the thousands of different kinds of molecules that may influence the metabolism of a given brain cell. Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute estimated that these higher
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