This brings about an interesting ethical problem. Should we get to the point where we can simulate life and consciousness to a level that is indistinguishable from the original thing (as perceived by the simulator), do our standards with regard to, say, human rights apply within, or does the ability to reboot or restore the simulation from a backup make is exempt from any ethical issues?

Either way, I reckon this will one day be used to generate an infinite amount of behaviourally customized cat videos for our simulators' facebook feeds.

The "White Christmas" episode of "Black Mirror" touched on the subject of ethics towards AIs. Highly recommended.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_(Black_Mirror)

I forgot to specify - How do I transfer my consciousness out of the simulation, without dying?

http://escapepod.org/2010/07/29/ep251-unexpected-outcomes/ might have some ideas on that.

Look for the paradox at the shadow of an edge case of physics.

Programmers don't really do formal proofing or enough unit testing after all.