Philosophical zombies

[robvalue]

It seems to me that brains,(and who knows what else) have a subjective, internal "experience" which amounts to some sort of feedback loop.

The only way I can think of to really distinguish myself is if my brain isn't really here, I'm the classic brain in the vat. So I'm "having experiences", but everyone else are not copies of me, they are virtual mimics. I have a physical body somewhere else, but they have no physical form.

My question then becomes: can an element of a simulation, such as these mimics, develop their own version of an "experience" in just the same way? I'm thinking that the answer is "yes", and that this could conceivably already be happening. We might all be elements of a "virtual" world.