It is possible that in that only few people are actually ‘players’ (have consciousness) and others are NPC-like p-zombies. In that case, I can say I’m one of the players, as I’m sure that I have consciousness, but there is no way I can prove it to anyone else ;-) .
One of the positive aspects of this kind of thought experiments is that usually gives people additional reasons for good behavior because in most cases it is highly likely that simulators are conscious creatures who will probably reward those who behave ethically.
I had exactly the same idea!
It is possible that in that only few people are actually ‘players’ (have consciousness) and others are NPC-like p-zombies. In that case, I can say I’m one of the players, as I’m sure that I have consciousness, but there is no way I can prove it to anyone else ;-) .
One of the positive aspects of this kind of thought experiments is that usually gives people additional reasons for good behavior because in most cases it is highly likely that simulators are conscious creatures who will probably reward those who behave ethically.
I admit that it serves my ego suitably to imagine that I am the only conscious human, and a world full of shallow-AI’s was created just for me ;-)