Thank you for the inputs and also the reference to the paper of Dr. Edelman. I am going through it and glad to note you have played a key role in bringing it about.

Meanwhile I think there is a fundamental disconnect on the term 'consciousness' itself which is what I am trying to address in this post. Erwin Schrodinger famously said, "Consciousness is singular, not plural". This refers to the Eastern view that is also in line with quantum physics of one undivided field which is the ground of all matter. The more prevalent view is of a 'plural' consciousness which is individual and experiential. It seems to me that the latter is what this paper also refers to. As I mention in this article, it seems entirely possible, at least theoretically, that experiential consciousness is within the reach of AI.