One of the problems here is that of using our intuition on consciousness as a guide to processes well outside our experience. Why should we believe our common-sense intuition on whether a computer has consciousness, or whether a pencil and paper simulation has consciousness when both are so far beyond our actual experience? It's like applying our common sense understanding of physics to the study of atoms, or black holes. There's no reason to assume we can extrapolate that far intuitively with any real chance of success.

After that, there's a straight choice. Consciousness may be something that arises purely out of a rationally modellable process, or not. If the former, then the biological, computer program and pencil and paper Simone's will all be conscious, genuinely. If not, then there is something to consciousness that lies outside the reach of rational description - this is not inherently impossible in my opinion, but it does suggest that some entities which claim to be conscious actually won't be, and that there will be no rational means to show whether they are or not.