"Naturally occurring" is a red herring itself. Consciousness must be a property of a system rather than its elements. Whatever the constraints on systems that c

"Naturally occurring" is a red herring itself. Consciousness must be a property of a system rather than its elements. Whatever the constraints on systems that can be conscious, it is not going to come down to "natural" vs. "artificial", unless mystical metaphysics turns out to be true. So the answer to your hypothetical is mysticism as reality.