assertion: consciousness == processing information.

This is a functional view of consciousness.

Awareness - sentience - follows when the system of processing information is itself part of the information being processed.

Stochastic thoughts relating to this conclusion:

Life is a 'process', it doesn't have a 'physical representation'.

Life is generated entirely from non-living material. "oh my cells are alive", but those cells too when broken down into component parts consist entirely of non-living material. There is no 'special material' to make life out of (okay, carbon, but that's just the local maximum presumed global maximum in efficiency in expressing life) like a chair can be made out of any material (at proper pressures and temperatures) so too can a mind.