We don’t know, and the question might not even be able to be answered by scientific means.
https://iep.utm.edu/hard-problem-of-conciousness/
“The usual methods of science involve explanation of functional, dynamical, and structural properties—explanation of what a thing does, how it changes over time, and how it is put together. But even after we have explained the functional, dynamical, and structural properties of the conscious mind, we can still meaningfully ask the question, Why is it conscious? This suggests that an explanation of consciousness will have to go beyond the usual methods of science.”
This is a very legitimate issue that has been debated for a few decades now.
At the very least we know that consciousness is *connected* to the brain, and we can even explain how certain brain states seem to effect consciousness, but these don’t necessarily tell us anything about the nature of consciousness itself.
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