Correct: not everyone would care whether they're creating a suffering, conscious being, or think about the topic enough to consider it a possibility. I still think the issue merits being called "relevant" in the context where I mentioned it.

I agree with you, but... until we have some sort of "Test For Consciousness", I think it's safe to assume that we're not going to accidentally create consciousness just by writing computer programs --- even if the programs themselves do happen to make use of damn fine algorithms "inspired by nature".

I think the more immediate concern is that we begin to turn over everyday life-and-death decisions (driving, obvs) to machines which are, at the end of the day, unconscious, and programmed by us oh-so-fallible human beings.