> - Consciousness is an emergent property of computation
That is quite a leap. I hope it is true but you never know what kind of quantum/other shenanigans sneaky evolution has latched on to to end up with the brains of today.
Yeah, we don't know the first thing about consciousness really. But I imagine with enough time we will be able to build an artificial neuron that's smaller. And induct from there.
We know one very important thing: consciousness is not a binary state. We have learned that different animals experience sensations, emotions at varying degrees. That different animals can solve problems of varying difficulty. And more advanced animals can communicate at varying levels of richness. When you stop thinking of consciousness, intellect and awareness as binary states but gradients (perhaps multidimensional), then you can more easily accept the premise that consciousness is an emergent property of the complex biological systems.
FWIW I do think that if at all there is a quantum mechanism available and it has even a tiny evolutionary advantage it would end up being a significant part of rise of consciousness. from looking at things like photosynthesis its not too far fetched imo.
