"Simulated storms aren't wet" — a counter-argument in the AI consciousness debate
yeastsplainer · x · 2026-10-07
Responding to the popular line "a simulated brain isn't conscious, just like a simulated rainstorm isn't wet," the author argues that AI isn't a simulation at all but a parallel real-world instantiation on a different substrate — like an actual storm raining oil instead of water, one that can still get you wet.
The counter-intuitive analogy pushes back on the simulation-vs-real dichotomy in debates about machine consciousness.
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