To quote a great friend: Everything is waves.
E=mc^2, despite what others will tell you has nothing to do with objects
moving at the speed of light. What this equation says is that matter
and energy are interrelated. One is the other, just different forms.
This wave nature is the foundation of quantum mechanics.
Bearing this in mind, as we consider the various 'placements' of different elements across the electro-magnetic spectrum, with'solids' wave vibrational rates at the lower end of the spectrum moving through sound and on up into color, and eventually arriving at pure energy - mc^2, at the higher end - what is to suppose that the nature of "Consciousness" is none other than a non-physical (solid) computation system, that could be controlled by external stimuli, and indeed the scenario of a civilization 500 years more advanced than ourselves technologically could not have created us as no more than an advanced "Sims" game and "God" as we consider the term is no more than a 12yr old kid in this advanced species and we are merely characters/actors in his game that we call "life".
That there is this thing called "will" and "consciousness" is indisputable, whether it is truly "free" is another matter entirely.