O, definitely woo. I tried to make that explicitly clear by using “hypothesis” and “appearance”.

My hypothesis is less “optimization solutions == consciousness” and more positing that our brains, “action potentials” was meant as cheeky shorthand for the human brain, use an “optimization solution” that we identify as “consciousness”, or as you put it “sentience”.

But to quote South Park, “and I base that on absolutely nothing”. ;P