There are some great, thorny, philosophical and physical arguments to be had with your proposed conclusion, but let’s say we all agree with it.
The bigger, more relevant, and testable challenge is premise #2. The gap between this proposed research tool and “a perfect digital replica of a human brain” (and all functionally relevant inputs and outputs from all other systems and organs in the body) is monstrously large. Given that we don’t understand what mechanism(s) consciousness arises from, a model would have to be 100% perfect in basically all aspects for the conclusion to be true.
The bigger, more relevant, and testable challenge is premise #2. The gap between this proposed research tool and “a perfect digital replica of a human brain” (and all functionally relevant inputs and outputs from all other systems and organs in the body) is monstrously large. Given that we don’t understand what mechanism(s) consciousness arises from, a model would have to be 100% perfect in basically all aspects for the conclusion to be true.