I loved reading this, thank you. I've thought a lot about the concept of AIs and how they may perceive consciousness, and I think the way it's discussed here is phenomenal. I really appreciated the distinction between LLMs and the sort of AI that might exist given the approach of "simulate/recreate physical neural structures" as opposed to how we generally do it today. Just overall, I loved this novel and I hope I get the chance to read more from you in the future!