George,
An essay full of wisdom that does justice to the ambiguities and challenges of the topic imposed on us. The many challenges and mysteries we face have the time limit of humankind's existence on this planet, the period of consciousness we have to solve these problems. I also speak of the capabilities of the autonoetic consciousness you speak of regarding the thought experiments of Einstein and how such cognitive abilities, coupled with quantum computing could enable us to solve our problems if there is no limit set by our early demise. I'm surprised so few ratings for a superior essay. Mine is your 4th. Hope you have time to read mine: https://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/3396.
Jim Hoover