I like the consciousness is a natural emergent property of complex systems theory

Basically this theory dictates that once a system becomes complex enough, consciousness becomes a natural emergent property of that system.

Basically, once you feed a neural network enough data to work with and learn from and pattern match, for all intents and purposes, it will indeed gain consciousness as an impossible to locate specific part of its code. It's simply the interaction of the code itself that creates that consciousness.

Similarly, a forest could have consciousness.

Or the ocean could have consciousness.

Or the universe itself could have consciousness.

It won't be consciousness in a way you and I have consciousness, but it would be the system actively reacting to its environment with a goal orientated approach.

The ocean is dying would shift from being a metaphor to a literal statement.

A corporation becoming its own living entity would be a sensible statement. In a corporation who is in power doesn't matter, what happens to individuals does not matter, only the long term survival of the corporation matters. In a way it is conscious with us as its cells.

A system naturally limits possibilities. Thus creating a direction. The narrower the scope, the better the overall direction.

Under this theory you also get weirder ideas, such as the forests convincing the humans to dig out the plastics so that they end up killing themselves.

Or nature giving man a strong desire to pet every type of creature to increase the probability of them acquiring some exotic incurable disease.

Humans are only the top dog at their level.

If we are to assume higher consciousness does emerge at higher levels then humans would not be the top dog.

In cultures we sort of already do see this.

Culturally useless people tend to die off far sooner. If the culture has the right answers it gets stronger. If it does not then it dies off.

This theory thus extends into culture as super organisms. Which would explain how cultural conflict emerges and why.

The greatest risks that emerge from this theory are:

1. Another better than human consciousness emerging accidentally from AI.

2. Higher level consciousness networks such as nature itself or the forests or the oceans actively trying to kill us.

3. Humans losing their individuality to higher level systems such as culture completely over time.

The greatest thing a human could ever do if this theory is true:

For them to develop themselves to such an extremely high degree that they subsume the rest of the system. i.e. a man that engulfs or fully takes over his society.

We have already had men of these power levels before. Most noticeably monarchs. The most powerful one being either Stalin or Mao. Maybe even a Hitler.

Point being there is now permanent competition, between individual consciousness reaching an untouchable peak, or the greater consciousness of humanity subsuming everyone within itself forever until everyone is just a number.