Pron, I fully support your take here. Most AGI campaigners here clearly think that we must have already figured out a lot about how consciousness works. But is there any evidence to back that up? No, because we _haven't_ created consciousness. The most we've done is manipulate _existing_ consciousness. Sure, we can point to similarities between deep learning and the brain, and these avenues are interesting and, I think, worthwhile to explore. But false starts happen often in science (e.g. bloodletting / astrology / pick your own) and seem to occur at intersections where concrete evidence of results is inaccessible. No one can say with certainty we aren't in the middle of one now.

Like pron, I don't mean to dismiss the work any AI researcher is doing, but the industry has growing money and power and I just think people should be careful with statements like the one pointed out already and so often encountered: "if you believe AGI might be achievable any time soon, it becomes hard to work on any other problem."