I was confused why there was this passionate debate in AI about a fuzzy concept called consciousness. Then I got it... This isn't an argument about whether ChatGPT is conscious. It's an argument about whether any computer running any software could be conscious, no matter how advanced. Can mere matter alone be conscious, ever? It's the Software People and the Soul People. The Software People believe you are essentially the information/process running in your brain. Put it on another substrate and you are still there. The Soul People believe there's something else that makes you you, something you can't copy onto a computer. And it isn't just an unknowable metaphysical argument with no real world implications: someday you may be offered the chance to upload yourself into a computer to "live forever". The Software People say: That's me, I live forever. The Soul People say: Nope, that's a machine simulating me. It's cold and dead, and so am I. It's the old Star Trek transporter question: does it move you, or kill you and make a perfect copy?