Thanks very much Rick, and if I suggested that I think science should give up the study, I apologize because that is certainly not what I intended. It is entirely possible that science will yet find that consciousness can emerge from purely natural processes. If so, it puts a new light on the emergence of consciousness from intelligent systems including non-biological ones. The search should definitely go on. What I look for and often fail to find, is the recognition that while we continue to greatly expand our knowledge of the brain and how it works--such as in the pharmaceutical examples you mention–– we still have really no idea how consciousness is produced. My own view is we won't find that in science because I believe in "Mind first." But, I may be wrong, and scientists should keep looking even while being a bit more honest about the current state of knowledge on this.