Qualia either refers to something or nothing. Obviously it refers to something and therefore it exists, in some way. To say otherwise is to speak gibberish.

Fact No.01:
Qualia, i.e. ‘elements of experience’ do really exist, and unless you are a zombie that is the most obvious self-evident fact of all.
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When all your molecules change something stays the same, apparently not quite physical, yet surely is real, and therefore that is "virtual entity", by definition.

Fact No.02:
Personality, identity, ego, self, subject of experience... is a virtual entity.
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Any doubt or disagreement here can only be due to not understanding the words properly, and since I am only stating the obvious anyway...

Fact No.03:
Virtual, it means the opposite of actual while still physical in some way. In other words, still "real" just not actual, a kind of representation, or “information” most generally.
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The only explanation there can be for the existence of things that do not actually exist, such as unicorns or qualia, is virtual existence. Necessary logical truth, by that definition above.

Fact No.04:
Qualia are simulated or virtual qualities, i.e. properties that exist not in actual space as such, but within virtual space, and can be decoded / perceived only indirectly.
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Chinese room, inside a computer, looking at electrons and logic gates you can not see what program is running, just like you can not hear sounds, see colors or find consciousness by looking inside the brain.

Fact No.05:
Simulated / virtual entities and qualities are invisible from the 3rd person point of view in their actual form. To see what is really going on “inside” you have to put VR goggles on first, on top of those you're already wearing now - your head.
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So it turns out we do live in a simulation after all. Not created by gods, aliens, or evil robots, but created by humans themselves, only unbeknown to them and against their will, by their own brains.

It follows, consciousness evolved in a completely new ontological substrate that emerged within the nervous system, namely the virtual space of simulated reality, dreams and imagination, the realm of abstraction where potentially exist almost unlimited kinds of novel and irreducible entities and qualities.

No ghost, just another machine in the machine! You have to admit it is obvious, and self-evidently so, that consciousness is a virtual reality construct, simulation, virtual machine of sorts. But why does it feel like something to be such a virtual machine?

There is a mechanical description in complexity of emergent properties, and there is an ontological explanation in simplicity of the beginning of time, the universe, and everything. Somewhere in between, though, options are already constrained and only one choice actually means something rather than nothing or many things.

a.) it’s how ‘quantum collapse’ feels from the inside
b.) it’s how ‘integrated information’ feels from the inside
c.) it’s how ‘the universe’ feels from the inside
d.) it’s how ‘soul or spirit’ feels from the inside
e.) it’s how ‘virtual reality’ feels from the inside