Perhaps you are correct 2Horses1Saddle!
I like to keep an open mind on the deeper mysteries of the universe when it comes to life/consciousness.
BUT... even if you are right (and I actually do hope you are right)... then so what?
That will not really stop future science from likely/eventually being able to scan/copy a full human brain/consciousness, and then uploading that into a virtual-environment , or robotic body, or cloned-biological body.
That uploaded cloned "consciousness" would then function perfectly as a human.
Again, you (and possibly me as well) may not feel that "copy" will have a soul...
but everyone else who interacts with "it" will indeed feel it is fully human, and identical to the original consciousness, and it will function, and make a life for itself, and interact with the physical world, develop friendships/relationships.
I think it would be very difficult for you or I to treat it, and interact with it, as anything but human.
AND... of course this article is not about scanning/copying an entire consciousness.
It's about augmenting a living person's brain.
So for example, if they have damage to a specific part of their brain, and that part of their brain is fitted with a circuit the simulates data-processing normally conducted by that region, PERFECTLY.
So they are MOSTLY human, but a small part of their brain is electronic.
Do they still have a soul?
If you say, "No they don't" then that would imply that you believe those with cochlear implants are rendered "souless".
That's because the cochlear implant is the first step towards partially cybernetic humans, in that it processes neurological data types, and send those data signals directly to the brain.
Also consider this:
What if a human keeps having sections of his/her brain replaced, bit by bit, section by section, as those sections begin to fail, as they get older and older.
And what point does that person become more machine than human (and lose their "soul")?
Is it when their brain becomes 51% electronic, and 49% biological?
If that becomes the definition, then what happens if that same human then has one of the electronic circuits, and replaced with fresh cloned brain cells?
That means the person's was brain became 51% electronic, but then shifted back to being 49% electronic, when the circuit was removed and replaced with cloned-neurons!
So did that person lose their soul, but then regain it?