I don't think it's an obsession, it's just an observation. Now that we have science and understand a little about how the brain works, it's reasonable to think it might just be a biological computer.

And that doesn't have to be something negative or dehumanizing. If anything I find it beautiful and fascinating that something so incredible was able to emerge from nothing thanks to evolution.

Yes, exactly: consciousness as we know it in daily life really is nothing more than the brain's deeply interconnected processing centers working in tandem. The sense-of-self is actually generated: it is a phantom that has come in very handy for keeping us alive over the eons.

A proper psychedelic breakthrough experience or even mindfulness done right and for long enough is capable of demonstrating this in clear, unambiguous, front-&-center terms. That is what is really going on: there is nothing particularly special about your brain or anyone else's when it comes to composition. They are deeply interconnected, specialized neural networks.

Tough pill to swallow, I know, but it has the advantage of being the truth. You're right: what use is there for us? We are about to get the most humbling wake up call in our entire history as a species, and it's coming faster than most realize.

We can be replaced.

isn't that already how corporations under capitalism treat people? Humans are not seen as individuals by the system but just tools/resources to be used up and rotated out when they're no longer useful. yes it is dehumanizing but place the blame where it belongs, we've been dehumanized way before computers were even a thing.

oh yeah, the machines lack "the soul" :))