Where does the operating system and software come from, if not from the CPU? Is computer software just an illusion being experienced by a computer?
Computer operating systems, CPUs,and software are expressions of consciousness. In fact, all technology is an expression of consciousness.
I assume you believe that the software and operating system are also separate from the CPU and memory they are running on?
Well, when you go to the store, can you buy software and operating systems independent of CPUs and memory? Sure, they're different.
Oh, so is that how you see our "cosciousness," just software running on a computer, and the computer being (eventually, far in the future) swappable?
Basically, yes. I think the body is one of potentially many suitable vessels for consciousness. I really have no idea how this would work in practice, but I've had experiences of my consciousness transcending my body, albeit briefly.
Does it matter that our cosciousness is not like software on an interchangeable CPU, but is a function of a series of physical networks in the brain, and the only way to make a copy of someone's consciousness is to make an exact physical duplicate of mesh of neurons in the brain? I.e. our minda are mor a product of physical interractions of electrons and chemicals along unique physical paths, like gears and cogs in clockwork, rather than information stored in digital form that is free to exist on any system that allows information to be written. So, sorry, I guess a better analogy/question would have been, does a wind-up clock's time keeping exist outside of it's mechanism?
But, I guess eventually, thanks to the turing principle, if computers get fast enough, such a physical/mechanical system can be simulated in a digital form...