Here’s a scientist who believes that (mortal) humans will never understand consciousness:
http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2016/08/physicist-ed-witten-on-consciousness-i.html
This is something like the position held by the philosopher Colin McGinn, which is often called “mysterianism.”
I suspect that they’re right.
And I think it may be because consciousness is primary, basic, irreducible, and, accordingly, not explicable in terms of “constituent parts” or causes. I believe it to be one of the few “givens” in the universe. Like axioms in geometry, it’s a starting point, not the conclusion of a chain of reasoning.
Posted from Bergen, Norway