why do we enjoy poetry From the perspective of neuroscience?

[bennyboy]

Really?  You don't think that scientists have now proven, beyond a doubt, that brains generate consciousness?  You asked for specific scientific observations.  What about studies of how drugs affect consciousness, how brain injuries affect consciousness, how conscious states are correlated with brain states, and so on?  

I won't answer the rest of your very long post right now, because I don't want to provide too many distractions to a very simple question: how do you know that any physical system you are studying is conscious at all, without simply declaring it so by fiat? What scientific observations can you make which demonstrate that such a thing as subjective experience exists at all, in any form, in the Universe?

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And I already answered: because biological creatures evolve in hostile or indifferent environments, they have to be self-motivated at a certain level of complexity.  Please notice my qualifier at the end.  I believe I used it twice or three times before already.  Little machines like viruses can indeed survive without consciousness.

You are putting the cart in front of the horse. We first need to establish:
1) That consciousness exists at all, in any form.
2) That subjective experience actually DOES add any additional functionality to a complex processing mechanism without it.