> we've established that your "soul" cannot change the system, it's an observer
That's only one possibility actually. Its very possible if there is some "soul" that it interacts with the system. As we know from QM, measurement changes the measured - there's no way to measure/perceive something without interacting with it in some way. But its possible that a philosophical zombie would actually not have the same perception and would not act the same. They might do most of the same things, but they may not be able to talk about the same kind of perceptual experience with coherent clarity.
> Your brain cannot actually understand anything about its observer
How do you know?
> if you, say, take hard drugs, the state of that system can be different and you may not feel a singular perception point
That's pretty interesting. Does taking enough acid get you there?
> because you have a human ego and your biological brain evolved to think of itself as a single construct with an individual perception
Maybe so, but even knowing that, it doesn't explain how it happens, only that it happens.
> you're still stuck in the mindset that you have a soul that can affect your thoughts
I'm not sure I believe in a soul, but in thinking about this kind of stuff, a soul-like thing does seem a lot more plausible to me than it did before I thought about the phenomenal experience in depth.
> Every combination of everything would have its own "perception" of existence in my philosophy
How does this relate to your thoughts on the brain, where you said the brain evolved to think of itself as a singular being with a singular perception. Surely this doesn't apply to, for example, rocks.
> "I" exist because my brain exists. I cannot not exist because my brain does exists. That state is real. It has to be this way.
I don't think anyone's arguing that you don't exist. Nor is anyone arguing that the phenomenal experience isn't real. The question is how is it created, not whether.
> Your example of you and the chair is poor
Ok.. harsh...
> You are not experiencing the existence of individual parts of your brain or the chair and you as one thing, because your brain does not include that state and therefore the experience cannot be interpreted by a physical thing.
So what evidence is there that such a combination of experience even exists? If no being we can interact with can tell us about that experience, I don't think we can say whether or not it exists.