Re:Raises some interesting questions (Score 1)

I agree with you, and in 2000 this was still a thought experiment! At http://consc.net/papers/qualia.html a thorough treatment of some of the possible implications is given. While the paper is of academic quality it is still easily accessible and a decent reading.

It discussess three alternatives what is happening to one's conscious experience when replacing some (or just one) neuron in one's brain:

Option 1: Absent = You lose all conscious experience and become a robot (zombie).

Option 2: Fading = Your conscious experience degrades continuously as you replace more and more neurons.

Option 3: Dancing = You can switch your conscious experience on and off.

All three options are shown to be fruitless, so nothing should happen to your conscious experience when the brain or parts of it are replaced by some device with isomorphic input-output functions. So, maybe robots may have consciousness ...