There must be some critical instruction

Maybe there are degrees of consciousness. I read something by Daniel Dennett where he said he thought that a refrigerator light (a light bulb that is turned on when you open the refrigerator door and thus close a switch) had a very primitive form of consciousness.

Can consciousness really be so easy to create?

I too think this is a head-scratcher, yet on balance I am still a reductionist. Maybe this is not a reductio ad absurdum, but a reductio ad weirdam -- a demonstration of how weird existence is. (Obligatory "reality is not weird" link.)

If you have not yet read Greg Egan's Permutation City, you should. It will really bake your noodle.