It's not that this is shockingly new, it's that it's exceptionally unoriginal.
Every 15 year old has done all these thought experiments already. Brain in vat. What happens to personalities when you clone? What happens if you copy a brain on the molecular level - do you get two different people or not? Are you the same person you were 20 years ago? Even though every cell your body has been replaced?
It's just psych 101. Not topics you can discuss over and over again.
The computer simulation model is uninteresting because you can't use the model to make predictions that can be tested. And if you can't make useful (or interesting) predictions the model stinks.
What is interesting though is that no matter how unoriginal the question are we still don't have accepted answers, which suggests that it isn't time to stop asking the questions (which is unfortunate for those who are sick of the questions).
I personally love this thought experiment and the consequences one can reach from it.