It's a great question. But, here is how I would answer it. For years science, and to some degree our culture, has been based on the idea that nothing is real except matter and the forces that affect matter. But despite great effort, we still don't know how consciousness (thoughts, feelings, ideas, experiences) can be produced exclusively by matter. The quantum discoveries showed that consciousness has (or may have) a profound role in affecting matter. This means for physics to work, we have to take consciousness or the mind seriously.

This has led to a diversity of ideas, one being panpsychism preferred by leaders like Tononi, Koch and Chalmers, where consciousness is an inherent property in all of matter. And other ideas, like idealism which says matter may only exist in our minds.

The big deal is what is at stake. The physicalist idea that all is matter and forces is at stake in this question. Some, like Daniel Dennett, understand that and so say consciousness is an illusion, a trick of the matter in our brains. But most see that our minds are real. So, then how does one connect matter and mind. It is a big deal I think.