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There are two types of gradient though, conceptually. If consciousness is some state of matter that is unknown still, and each neuron, for example, contains "one bit" of consciousness, then the gradient is that as you add more neurons, you add more complexity to the consciousness, but you do not change the fundamental experience of consciousness. You add more content but not more experience in itself.

If on the other hand consciousness is this emergent phenomenon that depends on neurons and their connections, then the gradient (and thus the experience) would be far more diverse and there would be a lot of different ways consciousness could "feel".

The problem I have is that for example, as far as my brain can remember, stimuli has looked the exact same all throughout my life. If I saw my a tree when I was 10, and I saw the same tree now, the conscious "qualia" of this would look exactly the same. To me this is a mystery, that the connections in the brain do not change the experience of qualia at all. Red looks like red no matter what the neuronal state of your brain is. I don't have an answer to this but just something I've been thinking about.

> You cannot model the world and your place in it without consciousness.

At any high school you can find a robot which models its place in the world without consciousness.

> If consciousness is simply an emergent property of sufficiently complex information modelling, than assuming continued increases in computational capability, we're probably on the brink of creating consciousness that is "more conscious" than ourselves. And by our own definition of import, this consciousness will exceed our own place in the universe.

You went from 'consciousness exists on a gradient' (makes sense) to 'consciousness exists due to information modelling' which is a non sequitur.

Consciousness could be due to information modelling.

It could also be due to our brain's reliance on dopamine.

Or maybe it's due to a heretofore unknown enzyme that taps into a quantum field.

Or any other explanation.

There is no way to prove that consciousness relies on information modelling. That's a major assumption.

> "Consciousness is"

So certain, so much knowledge. Where do you get this certainty from and can you share with us so we can know too?

Not trying to be facetious: is a Roomba conscious?