I have not read the Hoffman book but did see him on TED talks and was intrigued so I will read him on your recommendation.
As to your read on the video I bow to your points, you clearly understand the material presented better than I.
My interest in this material comes from intellectual pursuit of existential understanding. I started following the God verses Science debates and came to most respect Dawkins/Hitchens/et al having come to see them as most closely presenting what I agree with…
But frankly I have become disenchanted with the polemic nature of the god/science war. I see both sides as failing to consider consciousness in meaningful ways. The god faction claim everything is created by god end of story… But the science camp seems to ignore anything that smacks of soul or conscious thought other than to present ways it evolved over time. To me the existence of the observer is critical to the full nature of existence being understood. It seems like an understanding of the impact of observation found in quantum mechanics is the perfect start to understanding the life existence questions. Since Schrodinger’s cat is just a thought experiment I hold out hope for the two slit interference experiment as described by Al-Khalili. You think anyone will claim the Nobel prize for that one?