Paul Austin Murphy asks a good question:

We can easily and happily accept that without the brain, there would be no emergence of consciousness in the first place — at least not in human beings as they are today. Yet that still leaves such emergence to be explained. More specifically and to accommodate both panpsychism and artificial intelligence (i.e., brains may not be required for consciousness), we can accept that without the brain of human subject S, that human subject would simply have no consciousness. (This is a statement of the obvious to me.) Yet we still need to explain the emergence of consciousness from — see, what does “from” mean? — the human brain of subject S.

Paul Austin Murphy, “What does the statement “The brain produces consciousness” mean?” at Medium (September 6, 2021)

There is no basis in mere physics for what every human being absolutely knows: Our own consciousness.

That was what caused the analytical philosopher Galen Strawson to abandon materialism for panpsychism. Okay, it isn’t a correct answer but he got the question right.

Happy New Year!

You may also wish to read: Post-modern science: The illusion of consciousness sees through itself.