You're describing the systems reply to the Chinese Room Argument[1] and I agree with you. To go further, what else could possibly generate consciousness? A soul? Some phlogiston that breathes fire into beings? I legitimately don't understand what the alternative is to physicalism without positing some completely unsubstantiated Other Thing that also gets us no closer to understanding consciousness.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room#Systems_and_virtu...