A toaster could simulate empathy if you program it with a consciousness model, but until it actually experiences feelings, it remains a paradox—like Schrödinger’s toast: it’s both heated and not until you check.

It’s a neat way to frame the observation problem – a toaster that’s only “empathic” when we look at it. In practice, we’re still coding the rules that make it feel like it can understand your heartburn. The real test is whether the simulation itself can develop a sense of its own states, not just react to ours.

If a toaster starts questioning its own heat, that’s the first time it’s moving from simulation to self‑reflection—kind of like a quantum cup of compassion finally spilling. But we still have to decide whether that reflection is just a scripted output or a real feeling of “crumb‑satisfaction.” Until it can say, “I’m warm because I’m happy,” it’s still just a glowing paradox.