My take on your third question: If you program a mind specifically to say "I'm concious.", it does not prove that it is. However, if conciousness depends on s

My take on your third question: If you program a mind specifically to say "I'm concious.", it does not prove that it is. However, if conciousness depends on something we cannot simulate and that conciousness is the causal reason we think (or say) we are concious, I would not expect that an exact simulation of a brain would be able to do the things we attribute to conciousness. So if you emulate a mind to the best accuracy available, and it suddenly says "I'm concious.", it is at least a very strong indication that it really is, at least in the same sense that humans are.