Cool little write up on neuroengineering
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22867070
TLGTFO:
taking the brain down to it's basics, and growing mini neural cultures.
Seems to think that consciousness (which basically comes from achieving a closed loop of input/output) is electrochemically trivial to achieve, but levels may vary.
Laughable at this level, but as they achieve larger / more complex structures, who's to know the wonders /horrors that could be ensuing inside.