I see your foundation as highly questionable, or flawed. It’s a mechanistic definition of consciousness, making small that which is unimaginably vast — awareness. Thought like this creates a cramped, narrow box, a Belief System that is self-limiting — yet it does not limit the rest of us who choose another perspective on this most basic element of being.

Free will is not unlimited, applying only to the self, which is the only element over which it can rule. Thus, can Cesar make whatever decision he likes, being as inconsistent if that is his choice, using the reasoning of his choice.

What if the brain & nervous system are a transceiver, a sending/receiving mechanism. Army experiments in WWII with Native American scouts who lost their enviable tracking ability with the mandatory crew cut. It was discovered that, without the long hair, they simply could not track. The net result was issuance of hair-cut waivers, a big deal to the military. So perhaps the hair acts as antennae for the transceiver — who knows?

When we take the element of spirit or soul or whatever we call it — even awareness — out of the human equation, we go mechanistic. It does not take either religion or even belief in God to experience the inner being. Not that long ago science & philosophy were joined at the hip, producing deeper wisdom that what today’s mechanical view of humanity delivers.

The study of consciousness or awareness is a worthy one, castrated by today’s mechanical approach in science & throughout academia, which has reduced philosophy to intellectual twaddle, for the most part, losing its soul. We each self-define our experience of reality based on thought & belief systems. Thus, we self-limit, as that is our choice. Other experiences of reality are available, which we reject, based on our beliefs.

You’re living in a land I don’t care to visit. If you don’t like it, make other choices — test your theory on free will. You’ll directly experience the results. You don’t act based on your inputs, but on your beliefs.

~♥~