Well yeah, consciousness is special. That's not what I said though. I said there's no reason to think the atoms in an animal (which appear to support consciousness) are special as compared to the atoms in a silicon wafer.

perhaps, though I think our understanding of what "consciousness" is low enough that we can't assume "atoms working as logic gates" is really sufficient.

I didn’t say we should assume it’s sufficient. I said we shouldn’t assume it’s insufficient.