[prettyStandard]

I believe in the beginning of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawkings, he mentions a similar problem where it's equally difficult to imagine a universe that always exists as a universe that was created by "something" that always existed.

I'm sure I'm butchering something about this interpretation in the decades since I've read it.

My point is this seems to be a similar problem where it's equally difficult to imagine that consciousness is something that arises from sufficiently complex systems, as it is to imagine its inherent to all systems.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying I'm not certain you're right. I can see it either way.