But didn't even John Searle argue at this level when refuting the "systems response" to his chinese room argument?

Very simplified the refutal goes like this: "It would be silly to attribute consciousness to a room".

Ultimately, Searle is berating people for even arguing inside the very analogy he put up to make a point.

(... my key takeaway is that even very smart people get astonishingly dumb on this topic)