I guess in my previous reply what I meant was “will anaconda add a solution to this problem that python -m venv <venv> (i.e. python virtual environments) does not already provide?”. I.e. will there be versions of packages on conda that are not available directly via pip?
Anyway, thank you for all your answers! It does not seem like there is an easy solution here. I will look into all the linked information (I think @rmwkwok’s suggestion to install by finding a wheel or potentially compiling from source looks promising) and see where I land.
If by chance I manage to solve this, perhaps it might be worth it to share a conda-pack asset somewhere so that others with apple silicon machines taking this course might have an easier path to a working environment.
Will post any progress here for posterity.