This has some implications for artificial general intelligence. If consciousness does not automatically emerge from some sufficient high cognitive processing skills, those sci-fi super-human AI may never arrive.
Anyway, I feel sorry for this patient. This must be a tough disease to die with.
I would argue consciousness comes, not from cognitieve processing skills, but from empathetic skills.
I see to possible ways. The first is: one forms a model of 'others' (for interacting better) and then applies that model to themselves. The second is: one wants to communicate thoughts, and thus needs to create a model for thoughts. Which includes conceptualizing 'self'.
It's increasingly looking like there are deep biological reasons for expressions like "gut instinct". There are a lot of neurons in the digestive system. A recent paper[2] appeared to show that the fundamental purpose of sleep is to regulate reactive molecules in the digestive system. Another item I saw in quanta, [or somewhere else][0], described how gut bacteria have a direct link to the vertebrate brain and immune system.
So my modest proposal is that if we want AGI, we need to figure out how to implement a digestive system in silico.
>So my modest proposal is that if we want AGI, we need to figure out how to implement a digestive system in silico.
The problem is that whatever function digestion provides to the mind must do so through modulating neural signals. That is, its influence is purely functional in nature. Thus we can replicate its influence without replicating digestion, e.g. simulate the dynamics of the vagus nerve. There is nothing essential about digestion to consciousness.
Anyway, I feel sorry for this patient. This must be a tough disease to die with.