Thanks for the reply!
I don't always agree with Bruce Schneier when he ventures into politics, but I agree with you that his technology views are nearly always correct. He's achieved his public visibility for a reason. And I definitely agree with his argument about strong encryption. I almost can't believe we're having this argument again, because I thought it was settled decades ago.
On consciousness, it's interesting to observe the differences between the professions. Neurourgeons seem to think we're a lot closer to understanding it than many other professions. I have no experience with lucid dreaming, but it seems like an interesting concept.
You touch on one of the things that I think is the most interesting. I forget when/where - maybe one of the edge.org posts, but for one of the posts in this series, I remember someone arguing that the entire nervous system goes into creating our conscious experience, not just the brain.
I am aware of my heart beating, and now, so are you. This is part of our consciousness. Nerves suffuse our bodies, and clearly contribute data to our sense of being, our consciousness. We know so little about how that sense of self is effected that there aren't even any arguments against the ideas that have been put forward that our whole bodies generate our consciousness, and not just our brains.
We just have no idea from whence the snippets of it come, nor how they're assembled into the gestalt we undertake to be. I feel in my heart that what my gut tells me is correct =p.