It seems to me your assertions assumes that the randomness you get out of a quantum mechanical system is essentially same as psuedo-random sequences in quality.

It seems to me your assertions assumes that the randomness you get out of a quantum mechanical system is essentially same as psuedo-random sequences in quality. which may very well be true functionally (as in being able to simulate specific behaviors) but it is still completely deterministic (unless you use a true random event like decay of a nuclei etc). Until then your option-2 fall into the phys-zombie mode. If I peer deeper into that line of thought I'd say it assumes that consciousness is simulate-able by physical deterministic processes and then goes onto say Ah look the behavior is indistinguishable so we have simulated the consciousness. BTW you can tell I am not a believer in turing tests like setup for 'measuring consciousness'. IMO its of a completely different nature. here is my take: Could it be that consciousness needs quantum mechanics to actually 'express' itself in human brain? this is borrowed from Penrose's Orchestrated-Objective-Reduction thesis. if so we could have either of those outcomes depending on the sophistication of your simulation and handling of various perturbations in human brain architecture. personally I lean more towards this option, especially after learning that QM processes play more central role in biology than we thought originally despite 'it' being too warm, wet & noisy. In short, if there is any evolutionary advantage to be had from QM effects, biology will adapt to exploit it. I'd argue Option 2 is not silly sophistry if you consider following scenario: 1) Lets say we create a planet sized computer with enough capacity to simulate every human being in the way you described. then we decide Ah we dont need to be in meatspace anymore because what difference it makes anyways.. so we simulate all human minds and 'upload' each human into this computer. now if we are wrong about consciousness then essentially we would have willfully committed genocide on our own race (& every other living thing). 2) suppose we develop a Opt-2 based super-intelligent AI which is way better then us at everything. now why should it keep such resource hogs as humans around? IMO precise definition of consciousness matters quite a bit here as it creates a quality worth preserving/exploring further.