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I think opinions like these ignore the immense complexity of the animal brain compared to other natural materials. We are not made of the same stuff as the rest of the external world—living things have a very precise configuration of cells and connections, and the slightest deficiencies or disturbances lead to complete loss of consciousness

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Exactly. The sand on the beach and a CPU are made of the same stuff too, but arguing that therefore beach sand can compute is obviously absurd. The consciousness of all matter is just as obviously absurd.

But beach sand DOES compute, once treated and arranged in a certain way.

The ability to compute is present in all matter. The ability for consciousness is present in all matter in the same way.

Perhaps these abilities are one and the same.

I can cut down a tree, mill it into lumber, and build a house out of it. It does not follow from this that a tree is a house. Once a tree is "treated and arranged" in the particular way that turns it into a house it is no longer a tree. Likewise, once beach sand is "treated and arranged" in the particular way required to make it compute, it isn't beach sand any more.

> The ability to compute is present in all matter.

No, it isn't. If you think it is, tell me how to build a computer out of a single hydrogen atom.

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