Once we have fine-grained simulations of all the activity in a human brain, we’ll have to take seriously the idea that the simulated brains are themselves conscious and intelligent. After all, a perfect simulation of my brain and body will behave exactly like me. Perhaps it might have its own subjective point of view. Perhaps it will experience an environment exactly like the one I experience. At this point, we’re just a step away from entertaining the hypothesis that we’re living in a simulation ourselves.
