This discussion explicitly started with the assertion that "consciousness is just an emergent phenomenon resulting from any sufficiently powerful cognitive system (either biological or artificial) with sufficient inputs of its environment and, crucially, of itself"; note carefully the word "any", as that's what this downthread discussion has been pushing hard against, and what the thought experiment you are arguing against is itself directed at. You, instead, seem to be very much in agreement and seem to be in alignment with this other side thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36462646