Mind and Soul

Let us assume that modern neuroscience developed a machine that could successfully map the electrical patterns in the brain that cause memory and consciousness. However, the map is not the only limit. The machine that has been developed is also capable of simulating these patterns digitally (or with organic components, if you really want to get your mind going), so much to the point that they have essentially "copied" your braing patterns.

There now seems to exist, for a moment in time, two identical copies of the machine that drives your consciousness. However, from the moment of the simulation, the new brain waves begin to experience their own thoughts and occurrences.

What does this mean for a) the soul, and b)existence as a whole?