The neuroscientist Antonio Damasio seems to agree with Curt Welch (not that he would put it the same way). So do Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser and Evan Thompson in "The Blindspot."

My way of explaining Damasio's view is that some neurons can create qualia for other neurons. Joseph LeDoux in "The Deep History of Ourselves" if I'm reading him right, talks about how the ability for neurons to create conscious sensations is a survival advantage.

This suggests that evolution has taken us past the "zombie" stage to a point where, to use your words, representing or processing information creates experienced feelings.

I've read Chalmers' book, Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" (he agrees with you) and others.

Granted, a "zombie" could do all we do. But it's not unreasonable to say the human brain is capable of more. But to be sure, we can't scientifically show how it would work. I guess it all depends on the kind of explanatory-ness you want. I'm not sure science has explained wave-collapse either.

Thank you for the discussion!