We will never reach any real conclusions about the source of or reason for consciousness. All 'explanations' ultimately reduce to 'this happens in the brain then consciousness happens'.
I don't think you're fully understanding the issue of consciousness if you think that saying it's impossible to solve in principle amounts to giving up. It's a legitimate philosophical position.
There is no scientific programme which has ever been put forth to understand how a physical system gives rise to phenomenological experience. This is not a matter of us not having the resources to conduct a series of experiments. This is us having absolutely no idea of what sorts of experiments we could run - forgetting resource constraints - to shed light on how matter generates consciousness.
It doesn't look like a review. Found at the bottom of the page: "This is the sixth in a series of conversations on consciousness between Riccardo Manzotti and Tim Parks."
There seems to be a general trend in literary communities now to talk about the nature of consciousness. Not much pretext is involved anymore apparently.
It's an unsolvable mystery, in principle.