One issue I don't think has been mentioned has to do with defining what consciousness is. We say that what we experience is consciousness. But isn't what we experience the creation of biological evolution? If so, it's ironic we are pursuing creation of a biological Rube Goldberg machine when in the future we might discover that consciousness properly defined is a system superior to what is in our brains. "Properly defined" and "superior" are loaded terms. Still, isn't there hubris in thinking that the first human consciousness was a "let there be light" moment in the cosmos?