It sounds like you may actually be in accord with the author. His point seems to be a reminder that, as I think you are in part saying, mathematical formalism -

It sounds like you may actually be in accord with the author. His point seems to be a reminder that, as I think you are in part saying, mathematical formalism -- and physics -- don't have answers to many fundamental questions, yet it is tempting and can even appear more "serious" to jump to conclusions, especially when jumping to another field, and act as if they do. "Classifying consciousness as a material problem is tantamount to saying that consciousness, too, remains fundamentally unexplained." So it appears that he's reminding us that the map is still largely blank, with only some terrain filled in. This hits my ears almost like an echo of Plato's Apology, wherein Socrates claims that if the Delphic oracle is correct and he is indeed wiser than others, it is only because he has a better grasp of his own ignorance.