Just wanted to say: I like the way you think. In fact, I'm writing up a piece about how to arrive at (what is presumably) a similar realization. In brief: (1) notice consciousness, (2) notice that it's impossible (in a well-defined sense) to know what is causing it. If done right, there can be an epiphany.
And if I fit into one place, it's HN ... software engineer for too many decades.
This is the one question I still have, and that will likely remain unanswered.