To say that we don't know some things is not the same as saying we don't know anything. We do not know that biochemical processes are necessary for consciousness, but we do know that that is the only place we have ever observed it. I exclude, of course, people who have talked to clocks or bananas during LSD trips.

There's always room for speculation, but most of what's been said is not speculation. Instead it's been assertion and assumption. There's even room for scientific inquiry (by which I mean actual scientific inquiry and not the pretend stuff) if consciousness, soul, mind, are indeed by-products of the brain or some other physical system instead of some mystical "force" or "energy" ("force" and "energy" being the favorite words that non-scientists use when they want to pretend they're saying something scientific).

There are other animals on this earth right now that can be said to think. There may well be aliens who think. There is some reason to think that machines might some day 'think'. But we have no reason whatever to believe that rocks think or vacuums or toaster ovens.

And, Rev, ethics is not a "science" of anything.