Sensations are not just information. A number is information. There's something that it's like to experience a sensation. There's nothing that it's like to be a number.
Of course, there’s nothing it’s like to be data. Un-recalled memories are data, they only become experiences again when we recall them into our active minds.
I don’t think consciousness is data, I think it’s a highly sophisticated process on data. It’s an activity, it’s something we do. Anil Seth described this process very well in the interview. It’s the third and last quote from him in my top level comment. Also I described my full account of consciousness in a reply to tekni5.
More seriously, I know how much philosophers love their “what is it like to be …” phrasing but there are a host of embedded assumptions which are seldom even acknowledged, let alone examined or defended.
