I think a lot of this stems from a trick of sorts. Nothing that we are is "magically" consciousness. If we had a machine and emulated every aspect of a "mind", would it be conscious? If you're answering no - then why? What's missing? I think the answer is: the only thing that's missing is that you couldn't possibly believe that that thing could be conscious. And this is simple because you believe that you are "conscious" to an extent which you really are not.
In other words, we think we're this thing called "conscious", but that thing isn't what we think it is!
When you look a bunch of different things: the left brain/right brain separation and the prefrontal cortex - you realize that you're not even just one brain, but many? Which one is you? And I seem to recall an article recently that challenged the existence of an unconscious. How does that relate to this?
Consciousness is not an outward product but an inward one. We are, in large part, deterministic. Our genetics and other factors can determine an increasingly large amount about us long before we're even self aware. Yet, for whatever reason, we all (though I suppose as per the GP comment - that is an assumption) have this inner dialog and observer who is not only watching every single thing as time gradually elapses, but also feels as though it is the one that is running the show.
Imagine you write a program to determine a pseudorandom number. You obviously don't imagine some entity puffs into existence, imagines itself picking the random number which our RNG already independently chose, and then puffs out of existence afterwards. Yet why would this somehow suddenly become true as the program became more complex? It requires extensive handwaving and speculation. Even if you somehow wrote similar pointless inner dialog mechanics into it, would something puff into existence and perceive itself then running those mechanics? I don't see any way you can answer yes to this question without, again, resorting to handwaving and speculation.
In other words, we think we're this thing called "conscious", but that thing isn't what we think it is!
When you look a bunch of different things: the left brain/right brain separation and the prefrontal cortex - you realize that you're not even just one brain, but many? Which one is you? And I seem to recall an article recently that challenged the existence of an unconscious. How does that relate to this?