I think you hit on the critical point where this theory goes awry, which is the idea that there is something special about human or animal intelligence which pu

I think you hit on the critical point where this theory goes awry, which is the idea that there is something special about human or animal intelligence which puts it in an entirely different category of other types of information gathering and synthesis. Another option is that the way people gather and synthesize information is just an advanced form of the same processes common to other dynamic systems, localized in layers of biology to create extreme forms of self-referential analysis. It's been a long debate, but the development of artificial intelligence is likely to significantly change the dominant perspective. If we continue to create ever more complex systems that behave intelligently but don't have the same kind of self-awareness as people perceive, we might be able to untangle the concepts of perception, intelligence, creativity, and the sense of self.