[slushh]

It doesn't matter how fossilized philosophical texts are. By turning them into code, their structure becomes alive. To start with penal code is an interesting idea worth trying although it could be a dead end since it is all about setting limits to the self.

I think that consciousness will reveal itself in a not so distant future. There are already implants for blind people. More and more parts of the brain will be replaced which will reveal where consciousness is situated. I like to think that fruit flies are also conscious so it could also be possible to enhance the brains of flies. However, I expect that its easier to enhance human minds and let humans communicate their experience than it is to find the consciousness patterns in flies.

>to do philosophy one needs to find an academic institution, wealthy patron, or circle of like-minded folks,

All you need is a blog. But I don't think that engaging in the current style of philosophy is time well spent because written language could be at its limit. Philosophy has the ideas of people who were thinking for several thousand years. They were very keen on being right. That could be a solid foundation to build on. The bones of birds are not very helpful to design planes but they still offer the idea of wings.