Y'all might be interested in the following excerpt from Penrose's response to the Symposium on Shadows of the Mind. Beyond the Doubting of a Shadow
11.9 I should make it clear, however, that I am certainly making no claim that the mystery of mentality can be resolved merely by finding the correct physical theory. I am sure that there are vital insights to be gained from psychology as well as from neuro-physiology and other aspects of biology. Baars seems to think that I am denying the existence of the unconscious, because there is no significant mention of it in Shadows (though there was some small reference to the unconscious mind in The Emperor's New Mind). I should like to reassure Baars that I fully accept both the existence of the unconscious and its importance to human behaviour. The only reason that the unconscious was not discussed in Shadows was that I had no contribution to make on the subject. I was concerned with the issue of consciousness directly, in particular in relation to the quality of understanding. However, I certainly agree that a complete picture cannot be obtained without the proper role of unconscious mentality being appreciated also.
15.3 As must be clear from the preceding remarks, I do not believe that any real progress will be achieved towards solving the mysteries of how mental phenomena fit in with the physical universe until there are some important changes in our picture of physical reality. Perhaps these developments will lead to a theory in which "consciousness" finds some place within the purely physical descriptions of the world. One is reminded of such ideas as "panpsychism" (like those of Leibniz, Spinoza, or Whitehead), where consciousness may play its part within the processes of physical action at its deepest levels. I do not have strong opinions as to the significance of such ideas, mainly because I have not studied them in detail. But I suspect the truth to have a much more compelling grandeur to it than any set of ideas that I have seen so far.