# Simulacra as Conscious Exotica

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.12422 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12422/

## Key facts

- Cited by 16 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 20 of its 86 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Feb 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 20 of 20)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [GPT-4 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08774/) (2023)
- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03442/) (2023)
- [RT-2: Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.15818/) (2023)
- [Emergent Abilities of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07682/) (2022)
- [PaLM-E: An Embodied Multimodal Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.03378/) (2023)
- [The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07864/) (2023)
- [Ethical and social risks of harm from Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.04359/) (2021)
- [Discovering Language Model Behaviors with Model-Written Evaluations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09251/) (2022)
- [Role-Play with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16367/) (2023)
- [Talking About Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.03551/) (2022)
- [Language Models as Agent Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.01681/) (2022)
- [Generative agent-based modeling with actions grounded in physical, social, or digital space using Concordia](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03664/) (2023)
- [Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08708/) (2023)
- [Could a Large Language Model be Conscious?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.07103/) (2023)
- [The feasibility of artificial consciousness through the lens of neuroscience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.00915/) (2023)
- [Generative Ghosts: Anticipating Benefits and Risks of AI Afterlives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01662/) (2024)
- [Robot Rights? Let's Talk about Human Welfare Instead](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.05046/) (2020)
- [Multiversal views on language models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.06391/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [Does It Make Sense to Speak of Introspection in Large Language Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.05068/) (2025)
- [Can LLMs make trade-offs involving stipulated pain and pleasure states?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02432/) (2024)
- [Principles for Responsible AI Consciousness Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.07290/) (2025)
- [Political Bias in LLMs: Unaligned Moral Values in Agent-centric Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.11415/) (2024)
- [Palatable Conceptions of Disembodied Being](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.16348/) (2025)
- [Cultural Bias in Large Language Models: Evaluating AI Agents through Moral Questionnaires](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.10073/) (2025)
- [Existential Conversations with Large Language Models: Content, Community, and Culture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.13223/) (2024)
- [Wanting to be Understood](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.06611/) (2025)
- [Deflating Deflationism: A Critical Perspective on Debunking Arguments Against LLM Mentality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.13403/) (2025)
- [The Xeno Sutra: Can Meaning and Value be Ascribed to an AI-Generated "Sacred" Text?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.20525/) (2025)
- [AI and Consciousness: Shifting Focus Towards Tractable Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.06965/) (2026)
- [Artificial Intelligence, conceptual metaphors and conceptual engineering: Are AI-based framings of human behaviour and cognition successful?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.07756/) (2025)
- [React to This (RTT): A Nonverbal Turing Test for Embodied AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.10812/) (2025)
- [Heads or Tails: A Simple Example of Causal Abstractive Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.01136/) (2025)
- [Automatic Minds: Cognitive Parallels Between Hypnotic States and Large Language Model Processing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.01363/) (2025)
- [Who Put the I in AI? Provenance and the Admissibility of Machine Self-Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.29494/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The advent of conversational agents with increasingly human-like behaviour throws old philosophical questions into new light. Does it, or could it, ever make sense to speak of AI agents built out of generative language models in terms of consciousness, given that they are "mere" simulacra of human behaviour, and that what they do can be seen as "merely" role play? Drawing on the later writings of Wittgenstein, this paper attempts to tackle this question while avoiding the pitfalls of dualistic thinking.