While I wouldn't claim a special case for us over machines as a foundation for consciousness, plenty of logical and rational people consider a reduction of cogn

While I wouldn't claim a special case for us over machines as a foundation for consciousness, plenty of logical and rational people consider a reduction of cognition ("AGI") to algorithms to be a naive but understandable approach in early decades. There has been zero success with it in creating a sentient being in all that time, so who's fooling themselves? And that's just cognition; not consciousness which is a different matter, and still not even understood on a philosophical level, let alone scientific - physics, computing or other. You should consider the possibility this is a gap in your understanding, rather than a privileged access to rational and intelligent thought over others.