We are not nearly as determined by our genes as once thought.

However, it is my stance that we can learn how messages get sent, how the message is encoded and what are the real-world results of the communication of functional information.

So, "essence" is an semantic abstraction and not a "distillate" of reality.  Essence is not a measurable. The essence of consciousness is life and love itself, in my humble personal metaphysics.

Would you say science, insofar as it is tied to mathematical description, can ultimately say little about actual causation?

It does feel like if Science is "The discovery of patterns through observation of change" then what makes the Pattern hold, what is the mental aspect of Observation, and what drives Change would be ultimately axiomatic and thus mysterious to that method of investigation...not a hard argument, just spit-balling here...