Thanks Elliott, of course I don't agree that philosophy has created the hard problem. It's been a hard problem as long as serious people have been thinking about it. As one example, the Vedanta philosophy. I'm focusing on that right now as I am working through Schrodinger's explanation as to why he supports this idea of complete unity with the notion that we are individuals only an illusion created by the unity. I don't agree, but I only mention this to suggest that from the Greeks and eastern religions, through Spinoza, Descartes and many more, consciousness has befuddled. The physicalist answer which you subscribe to is one answer and to a great many a very unsatisfactory one.

As for the gaps in evolution, the "extended synthesis," the thirdwayofevolution, Stuart Kauffman's work, emergence and now this new theory all suggest that there remain many many unanswered questions about evolution. You believe it is settled. I suggest it is far from that.