I think using terms and concepts from classical Information Science when talking about brains is a non-starter. To speak HN lingo, it's like measuring a computer's performance while it is in the middle of compiling the Linux kernel and training a GPT model.

Sure, the throughput for these discrete tasks was low, but the brain is not discrete. It is a heavily optimized complex system that can be taught to predict complex vector interactions in an instant and be correct enough every time. It can spot tiny movements in a sea of leaves while searching for a green herb in a green forest and immediately switch to group preservation mode when it becomes clear the movement is a tiger.

> devise a way of measuring bandwidth-in to consciousness vs bandwidth-out.

This is a dead end, "consciousness" is just a tiny goal-setting and evaluation layer on top of a a gigantic stack of "unconscious" processes. That stack is so powerful that we even use its mysterious, chaotic power to outsource formerly conscious processes after enough repetition.