One of the best works of fiction to tackle this subject was by Japanese writer Koji Suzuki. If the name's unfamiliar, read no further - MAJOR SPOILERS ahead! T

One of the best works of fiction to tackle this subject was by Japanese writer Koji Suzuki. If the name's unfamiliar, read no further - MAJOR SPOILERS ahead! The final book in the 'Ring' series (yes, that 'Ring' - the one with the creepy TV-crawling telekinetic dead girl) was a fascinating, philosophical, true 'science fiction' novel about the plight of AIs trapped in a simulation that was going horribly wrong... Well worth reading! What struck me is that 'information' is a property/quality(?) that could cross the barrier between 'real' and 'simulation' - a sufficiently complex simulated being could theoretically make the leap into 'real' existence. But there's always the other problem of turtles - all the way down (or up)... ;-) ('The Thirteenth Floor')