This is a really important point that seems to be overlooked in a lot of discussions around AI/consciousness and such. The key piece is that much of what we con

This is a really important point that seems to be overlooked in a lot of discussions around AI/consciousness and such. The key piece is that much of what we consider to be "consciousness" derives from formative experiences of physical reality that aren't available to fetuses. For example, this article[0] discusses whether fetuses can feel physical pain and makes a strong case that in early stages of development (at least until 23 weeks' gestation, if not longer), the physical neural connectivity necessary for the sensation of physical pain are incomplete. The article also suggests that what we consider to be an experience of physical pain involves certain basic aspects of consciousness that require more advanced postnatal development based on interactions with other people. If this is necessary for physical pain, then more abstract psychological pain would be even further down the road of development. So it's not as simple as whether something is a "real brain" or not, and growing mini-brains from human cells doesn't mean that sentience automatically happens. [0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1440624/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1440624/