I think you are making the assumption of strong AI: that a simulation of consciousness must necessarily be consciousness. Consider an omniscient being predicting the results of an H-bomb down to the quark level. Must the omniscient mind containing the simulation reach temperatures of 10,000 F? Must it reach overpressures sufficient to collapse its own mind? I think not. SO presumably there is a way to simulate consciousness without experiencing it, if it is material.
I think you are making the assumption of strong AI: that a simulation of consciousness must necessarily be consciousness. Consider an omniscient being predicting the results of an H-bomb down to the quark level. Must the omniscient mind containing the simulation reach temperatures of 10,000 F? Must it reach overpressures sufficient to collapse its own mind? I think not. SO presumably there is a way to simulate consciousness without experiencing it, if it is material.