IMO, neuroscience simply needs that foundational data and current theory is largely pointless.
There is no (non crackpot) theory of mind yet. Most high quality research on the mind (from a non computer science angle) comes from where it breaks down (schizophrenia, autism), since that's where the money is.
Research into AI and neural nets and stuff may change that, but as far as I'm aware an actual model for how thoughts exist doesn't really exist.
What would an operator which turns a physical state into conscious experience spit out?
C|state> = ????
Can't write down e.g. "The perception of a red apple on a table". Red? Table? Just symbols. Consciousness and word-symbols are just too far apart.
I've come to the same conclusion, after reading and thinking about it for 20 years. I no longer search for answers in books, papers, or threads. It's worse than not being able to find any new insights. I never found any insight that goes beyond describing the problem, or defending the existence of the problem. I no longer expect to see any progress on it in my lifetime.
Let’s suppose we build a teleport device which can make identical copies. As in your standing in pad X then someone else is standing on pad Y that looks identical to pad X and you both respond identically.
Now, whatever that machine reads as your mind state is your actual mind state. We don’t need to make an actual copy to do exactly what you said was impossible.
Perhaps what's needed is data-finding tools along with theory.
Neuroscientist love to reify a chunk of brain as responsible for function X. They have done this for 160 years. Only Karl Lashley’s work called “localization” into question but his work was swept aside in the Montcastle-Hubel-Wiesel era of big neuroscience.
Now we do toy experiments using optogenetics of a single inbred strain of mouse and delude ourselves into thinking that we are achieving understanding of a highly complex system.
I’ve worked in this field for 40 years and we are not even asking the right questions.
It is a pity neuroscientists do not know more about analog computing. Can a neuroscientist understand an op amp? Probably not.
To share the harsh light—can a CS expert in AI understand how to get to general AI? Probably not unless, like D. Hassabis, you have a solid background in neuroscience.