Since we are now "simulating" the neural activities of all the neurons in the human brain, we might expect that the animated GIF possesses human consciousness...
A GIF is just an image, it is not a simulation. The appeal of the GIF thought experiment relies on a misunderstanding of computation and simulation.
Take a photo of a dolphin swimming - can the photo swim? Of course not. But imagine scanning a perfect nanometer resolution 3D image of a dolphin and using that data to construct an artificial robotic dolphin. Can the robot dolphin swim? Obviously - yes, if constructed correctly. Can the 3D image swim by itself ? No. Now replace dolphin with brain, and swim with think.
Thinking is a computational process, and computation is physical, like swimming - it involves energy, mass, and state transitions. Physics is computational.
You state that "The 'causal structure' is just the key algorithmic computations" but this is not quite right.
Yes it is - causal structure is just computational structure, there is no difference.
The algorithmic computations can be instantiated in many different causal structures but only some will
Any sentence of this form is provably false, due to the universality of computation and multiple realizability. Any algorithmic computation can be instantiated in any universal computer and is always the same.
The algorithmic computations can be instantiated in many different causal structures but only some will
Any sentence of this form is provably false, due to the universality of computation and multiple realizability.
This is incorrect because the causal structure of a Turing machine simulating a human brain is very different from an actual human brain. Of course, you can redefine causality in terms of "simulation causality" but the underlying causal structure of the respective systems will be very different.
...Yes it is - causal structure is ju
Recently published article in Nature Methods on a new protocol for preserving mouse brains that allows the neurons to be traced across the entire brain, something that wasn't possible before. This is exciting because in as little as 3 years, the method could be extended to larger mammals (like humans), and pave the way for better neuroscience or even brain uploads. From the abstract:
http://blog.brainpreservation.org/2015/04/27/shawn-mikula-on-brain-preservation-protocols/