Virtual Machine Functionalism (VMF) is the only form of functionalism worth taking seriously in Philosophy of Mind and theories of consciousness.

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• Virtual Machine Functionalism (VMF)framework0.915
  A philosophy-of-mind view that mental phenomena are implemented by virtual machines running on physical brains, irreducible to physics alone.
• If computational functionalism is true, consciousness in AI systems built on conventional hardware is possible in principle.claim0.776
  Core claim enabling the indicator method's relevance to current AI systems
• If computational functionalism is false, consciousness may be impossible in non-organic artificial systems.hypothesis0.769
  Contrapositive possibility acknowledged.
• We hypothesize that adopting computational functionalism as a working assumption allows productive investigation of which computational properties are necessary and sufficient for consciousness and whether current AI systems could implement them.hypothesis0.764
  The paper's core methodological bet: use computational functionalism as a working assumption even while remaining agnostic about its truth
• The Machine Consciousness Hypothesis rests on metaphysical assumptions summarized as computationalist functionalism, which is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the hypothesis.claim0.760
  Paper's statement of the metaphysical presuppositions of the MCH
• If computational functionalism is correct, then some computations suffice for consciousness and the question is which ones and when they will exist in AI.hypothesis0.758
  Conditional underlying the consciousness route.
• Functional and phenomenal introspection are distinguishable, and whether they correlate in machines is an open question.claim0.752
  Core conceptual distinction introduced at the start; defines the paper's central problem.
• We hypothesize that general computational machines with sufficient resources possess the necessary and sufficient means to implement consciousness, and that successful implementation can be established via analysis or testing.hypothesis0.751
  The central hypothesis of the paper