Eli5: What is human consciousness and what other species are thought to possess some form of consciousness?

Question

Eli5: What is human consciousness and what other species are thought to possess some form of consciousness?

In: Other

Answer 1

So “what is consciousness?” Is actually the really difficult part here.

Many people would define consciousness as the ability to think or react to your environment.But that’s not really the case because we have words for thinking and reacting to environments.

In my mind it’s the rare ability to legitimately think about your environment. Humans, dolphins, crows, and some other animals have the a part of the brain that allows us to pull from our memories and simulate new solutions without actually doing the new thing physically.

Bugs for example can’t do that. They don’t have memory, and the other creatures that do have memory can’t simulate new situations. They can’t “think” about things.

Here’s the tricky part though. Bugs can legitimately have preferences. So can fish even though they don’t have that simulation engine in their brain. They actually show emotion, have favorite people, places, and things.

So really it all depends on your definition of consciousness. Is it the ability to show emotion or have memory associated with a personality? Or is it the ability to actually think and consider?

Edited for oxford comma.