Anil Seth argues simulation isn't instantiation — same I/O doesn't imply consciousness
anilkseth · x · 2026-09-06
Consciousness researcher Anil Seth laid out the core claim of his paper in a public exchange: simulation is not instantiation.
- Responding to the argument that analog and digital systems can simulate each other to arbitrary precision, Seth counters that simulation equals instantiation only when the target is itself (or can be implemented by) a computation of a sufficiently similar kind
- Same input-output behaviour does not collapse the distinction — unless the simulation target is a classic Turing-style algorithm
- The point bears directly on whether LLMs could be genuinely conscious: behavioral indistinguishability doesn't imply computational equivalence
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