Or can they? I suppose we'd need a quality definition of consciousness first - one that is specific, unambiguous, and able to be tested. It seems everyone has s

Or can they? I suppose we'd need a quality definition of consciousness first - one that is specific, unambiguous, and able to be tested. It seems everyone has skipped over that part to prematurely claim that whatever pops into their head is a legitimate theory. It's not surprising consciousness research is such a mess - it is a topic that is too close to how people define themselves. If somebody had a nice, simple, practical, hypothesis it would probably be attacked and buried. Civilization had a hard time adjusting to the sun being the center of the solar system, and many still haven't come to terms with the fact that we evolved from common ancestors of other living things. I doubt many people want to hear that our thoughts, our feelings and experiences can be simply modeled on a computer. Or worse, that filthy animals are conscious too. The reason the problem is "hard" is not scientific, it is emotional.