Paul,

I am very aware of the hard, neurobiological engineering problem (i.e., how do you actually build something that feels), relative to NCCs.

So, no need to educate me on what "you physicists" are trying to explain.

As a theoretical psychologist, I am trying to tell you that you need to be clear on the various referents for what consciousness is. At an absolute minimum, as I describe in this educational video https://medium.com/unified-theory-of-knowledge/now-utoking-consciousness-df6cb156d62e, there is 1) functional awareness and responsivity; 2) subjective conscious experience of being and 3) self-reflective awareness of being in the world.

Your open line did not clarify and indeed conflated points 2 and 3.