You can reproduce any algorithm with a sufficient group of people. For example, using a person as a node in a feed-forward neural network doing digit recognition. Suppose each person called the next layer in the network with the results of their calculation, until the last layer spit out a value of a digit between 1 and 9. At what point in that process does qualia arise? What is its shape and texture, and why?
Sure, I suspect "qualia" will be there, though there won't be a definite moment they arise. Imagine a simpler example: using person as a representation of a water molecule, you reproduce fluid behaviour in a crowd. At which point in this process waves arise? I suspect the question about qualia is meaningless in the same sense that asking when do water molecules (or humans) turn into waves is.
