In conclusion, we need to create gold to get gold, no simulation apart from the creation of the actual physically identical substance will do the job. Consequently, in the case of gold at least, substrate neutrality is false.
That just seems confused to me. Simulated gold would be exchanged on simulated gold markets - where it would work just fine.
You can simulate anything - at least according to the Church–Turing–Deutsch principle.
Simulated gold would be exchanged on simulated gold markets - where it would work just fine.
See my longer comment here.
This post is a followup to "We are not living in a simulation" and intended to help me (and you) better understand the claims of those who took a computationalist position in that thread. The questions below are aimed at you if you think the following statement both a) makes sense, and b) is true:
"Consciousness is really just computation"
I've made it no secret that I think this statement is hogwash, but I've done my best to make these questions as non-leading as possible: you should be able to answer them without having to dismantle them first. Of course, I could be wrong, and "the question is confused" is always a valid answer. So is "I don't know".
a) Something that an abstract machine does, as in "No oracle Turing machine can compute a decision to its own halting problem"?
b) Something that a concrete machine does, as in "My calculator computed 2+2"?
c) Or, is this distinction nonsensical or irrelevant?
ETA: By the way, I probably won't engage right away with individual commenters on this thread except to answer requests for clarification. In a few days I'll write another post analyzing the points that are brought up.