I think the reason we can’t define consciousness beyond intuitive or vague descriptions is because it exists outside the realm of physics and science altogether. This in itself makes some people very uncomfortable, because they don’t like thinking about or believing in things they cannot measure or control, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

I’ve always had the opposite take. I think that we’ll eventually discover that consciousness is so explainable within the realm of physics that our eventual understanding of how it works will make people very comfortable… because it will completely invalidate all of the things we’ve always thought made us “special”, like a notion of free will.