It's not necessarily the same thing as proving things about consciousness. The two could be orthogonal. If qualia arise only in particular configurations of ph

It's not necessarily the same thing as proving things about consciousness. The two could be orthogonal. If qualia arise only in particular configurations of physical substrate, then it might be possible for flatworms to have qualia but not search engines. This doesn't mean the flatworm has a concept of self, a concept of time, or even low-level cognition. "Nobody home", so to speak. But the basic qualia of light/dark/hot/cold might still be present.