I have to confess a certain degree of annoyance. Yes, you could explain calculus to a 4th grader but that would not convey any real grasp of the concepts or the landscape of understanding that this tool conveys. There is a certain price of admission in terms of investment in picking up the supporting concepts and relationships.
The calculus example you offered is a good one - how long would it take for that 4th grader to see the descriptive power of this tool? And know how to apply it to real world problems? How useful would this tool be without a grasp of the mechanics and structure of these real world problems?
If I tell you that using calculus I can work out planetary motions and go on to show the details of the intersection of astronomy and rocket science using these tools you can imagine my response when further discussion of the problem include references to astrology.
No insult intended but these discussions of the properties of consciousness seem very far removed from the mechanics of what goes on between your ears. Imagine my reaction when I read something to the effect “a pattern is a pattern whether is implemented in the brain or scratched in the beach sand.” That is the difference between a yummy meal and a picture of a yummy meal. Not the same thing at all.
I have followed HInton and his boosting of panpsychism as a tool to explore the continuum of reactive systems and the processing within those systems during the process. I have been amazed as the press and lay people have picked up on this and freighted this with all sorts of semi-mystical interpretations that seem to be some sort of wish fulfillment for everyone’s personal version of folk psychology. The relationship of this approach to the actual neural mechanisms is distant at best; I think it adds more fog and less clarity. But an important man has said it so it must be important - right?
I have spent the time to work though the concepts and feel that I do see the answers to the questions you pose. If you are willing to put in the effort to learn the vocabulary and supporting concepts you can get to the place where you can see the answers for yourself. I am more than willing to help you get there is you are interested. It won’t take 30 years as you could skip the dead ends that I wasted time on.