I once took this reductio in the opposite direction and ended up becoming convinced that consciousness is what it feels like inside a logically consistent description of a mind-state, whether or not it is instantiated anywhere. I'm still confused about some of the implications of this, but somewhat less confused about consciousness itself.

Take a moment to convince yourself that there is nothing substantively different between this scenario and the previous one, except that it contains approximately 10,000 times the maximum safe dosage of in principle.

Once again, Simone will claim she's conscious.

...Yeah, I'm sorry, but I just don't believe her.

I don't claim certain knowledge about the ontology of consciousness, but if I can summon forth a subjective consciousness ex nihilo by making the right series of graphite squiggles (which don't even mean anything outside human minds), then we might as well just give up and admit consciousness is magic.

"If I can summon forth a subjective consciousness ex nihilo by making the right blobs of protein throw around the right patterns of electrical impulses and neurotransmitters (which don't even mean anything outside human minds), then we might as well just give up and admit consciousness is magic."

Remember that it doesn't count as a reductio ad absurdum unless the conclusion is logically impossible (or, for the Bayesian analogue, very improbable according to some actual calculation) rather than merely implausible-sounding. I'd rather take Simone's word for it than believe my intuitions about plausibility.