maybe another way to challenge your perspective is to think of a robot: in the case of a robot, you can explain how it senses whats going on around it, learns

maybe another way to challenge your perspective is to think of a robot: in the case of a robot, you can explain how it senses whats going on around it, learns things, and takes actions. but is the robot conscious? is it ok to kill it? think about why it might be ok to kill the robot and not a person. because the difference between them is that the person feels; the person is conscious. it is the consciousness (what's left after all the other explanations) that is precisely the mystery that we seek to explain but have no idea how to do scientifically. that puts it into the domain of philosophy, but that doesn't mean it's not "much use". it's not much use yet, it will be some day. most of what we consider science now began in the past as philosophy. astronomy, physics, medicine, etc..