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What is the difference between being able to "actually" think for oneself... and absolutely convincingly giving the illusion of being able to do so?

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That is, indeed the question! It fascinates me that this (actually not so) philosophical question spans a number of realms -- including simulation theory. Part of the debate must be how complete an illusion needs to be before illusion and reality are indistinguishable – and of course boundary conditions (and who sets them) become exceptionally important then

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Indeed. And the question is harder still in the context of something as ephemerally hard to define as 'thinking'. Dennett once quipped that you don't get wet observing a numerical model simulating a hurricane, and so it is, but this distinction seems less clear in the more abstract domain of thought.

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