I second fubarobfusco. While you could say programs are pure syntax, they are executed on real machines and have real effects. If those capabilities don't count as semantic content, I don't know what does.
So, I still don't know what makes you so sure conciousness is impossible on an emulator. (Leaving aside the fact that using "strong AI" to talk about conciousness, instead of capabilities, is a bit strange.)
That is correct, you don't know what semantic content is.
"I still don't know what makes you so sure conciousness is impossible on an emulator."
For the same reason that I know simulated fire will not burn anything. In order for us to create an artificial mind, which certainly must be possible, we must duplicate the causal relations that exist in real consciousnesses.
Let us imagine that you go to your doctor and he says, "You're heart is shot. We need to replace it. Lucky for you we have miniature super computer we can stick into your chest th...
Recent article in The New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/11/ibm-brain-simulation-compass.html
Here is the research report from IBM, with the simple title "10^14":
http://www.modha.org/blog/SC12/RJ10502.pdf
It's nothing like a real brain simulation, of course, but illustrates that hardware to do this is getting very close.
There is likely to be quite a long overhang between the hardware and the software...