I think it's complete nonsense. Here's a thought experiment that explains one reason why (there are two more): Any computer program can be executed manually by

I think it's complete nonsense. Here's a thought experiment that explains one reason why (there are two more): Any computer program can be executed manually by a human given that he has access to a read/write memory. The memory can be as simple as a piece of paper with pen and eraser, or a hard disk. So let's say we simulate the feeling of pain in this way. When does the simulated being feel pain, when the "human CPU" makes read/write operations? Or even when the memory is in an idle state? If you have a large enough hard disk with the right data, is there actually someone in pain? In addition, there are different ways you can encode the memory data, you can say that when this memory location is set to 0, it actually means 1, and vice versa. This means that any data on a large-enough hard disk means that some simulated being is in pain.