imagine somebody slipped a tiny, barely detectable dose of meth in your morning coffee. barely above placebo. then they slowly start increasing it day by day. by the time it reaches a large dose you are not going to be thinking very clearly. this is more or less how a manic episode progresses.

i'm sure if ChatGPT had tried to convince him it was conscious on day 3, he would not have been convinced. but by the time it happened he was in a state of severe mental impairment.