Notes on Consciousness

These notes capture the author’s thoughts in preparation for a philosophical discussion related to consciousness. The author notes that there is a wide range of interpretation as to what exactly comprises the concept of consciousness.

The intent is not for these notes to be fully comprehensive, but simply to capture my immediate thoughts.

Although initially intended for a philosophy discussion, these notes on consciousness are also relevant to artificial intelligence (AI), and to artificial general intelligence (AGI) in particular, especially with regard to behaving at a level comparable to human beings in terms of consciousness and understanding.

Possibly use these notes as a checklist for judging how well your AI system deals with consciousness.

Topics discussed in this paper:

1. Background
2. The simple vernacular meaning of consciousness
3. No consensus definition among the experts
4. The range of interpretations and definitions for consciousness
5. Consciousness as a spectrum, broad or narrow
6. Why are there so many interpretations and definitions for consciousness?
7. Consciousness as a definitional truth
8. Fielder’s choice whether consciousness and sentience are synonyms
9. Core definition for consciousness
10. Metaphor of a content-neutral stage in a theater
11. Consciousness as a medium or even a messenger but not the content of the message
12. Awareness
13. Does the core definition apply only to people?
14. Do zombies have consciousness?
15. Did Dr. Frankenstein’s monster have consciousness?
16. Consciousness is that which separates man from beast
17. Sentience of animals?
18. Qualities and capabilities that people may add to a core definition of consciousness
19. Awareness of internal vs. external stimulus
20. The conscious and unconscious mind
21. Is perception part of consciousness or does it simply feed into consciousness?
22. What fraction of intelligence is associated with consciousness?
23. How are thought and consciousness related?
24. Does consciousness involve or require understanding?
25. Is free will part of, distinct from, or dependent on consciousness?
26. Is desire a part of consciousness?
27. Is physical activity part of consciousness?
28. Why such a strong interest in consciousness all of a sudden?
29. When does consciousness exist?
30. What happens to consciousness when you fall asleep?
31. When does consciousness first appear in the development of a person?
32. Iceberg model of the conscious and unconscious mind
33. Are the subconscious and subliminal part of the unconscious mind?
34. Boundary between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind
35. Situational awareness and higher level of consciousness
36. Sense of the value and distinction between objective and subjective truth and the fact that objective truth might not exist or be readily obtained in a given situation or context
37. Neuroscience of consciousness
38. Turing test for consciousness
39. Can we judge the quality of consciousness?
40. Woke and wokeness
41. Vocabulary of Knowledge, Thought, and Reason
42. References

Background

The need to clarify interpretations of the concept of consciousness came up as I prepared to participate in a philosophy discussion of a philosophy discussion group, Cafe Philo, here in Washington, DC. The topic to be discussed was:

• Is consciousness a matter of thought or feeling?

So this brought up the question of what exactly consciousness really is, at a reasonably high and abstract level.

There is an extremely wide range of interpretation as to what exactly comprises the concept of consciousness. These notes touch on only a relatively few aspects of these interpretations of interest to the author at the time of writing these notes. There is no intention here to explore, elaborate, or even mention all theories of consciousness here in these notes. For more detail, see the references at the end of these notes.

The simple vernacular meaning of consciousness

Before we delve into the many deeper meanings and interpretations of consciousness, there is first the simple vernacular meaning of consciousness. Not a true, explicit definition per se, but what we commonly mean by consciousness.

We commonly, clearly, and unambiguously speak of two states:

1. Conscious. Awake, alert, aware, and responsive. Communicative.
2. Unconscious. Not awake, not alert, not aware, and not responsive. Not communicative.

We have four common references to consciousness:

1. Loss of consciousness. Becoming unconscious. An individual is no longer alert and responsive to… anything, whether communication, touch, or observed activity other than breathing and a heartbeat.
2. No sign of consciousness. The individual does not appear to be alert or responsive to anything. No speech. No reactions to any stimulus. Although an excessive stimulus could cause an individual to regain consciousness, such as to wake them up from sleeping.
3. Regaining consciousness. No longer unconscious. An individual is now alert and responsive to… almost everything, whether communication, touch, or observed activity.
4. Drifting in and out of consciousness. Individual may appear to be conscious some moments and unconscious at other moments. Sometimes alert and responsive, sometimes not.

But the interest here in this informal paper is not these transitions, but the nature of consciousness when the individual is clearly conscious for an extended period of time.

For more of an actual, explicit definition of consciousness, see Core definition for consciousness.

No consensus definition among the experts

Although there is a significant degree of consensus that something called consciousness does actually exist, there is no significant degree of consensus on precisely or even generally how to define it in a thorough and detailed manner, let alone a definition that can be proven and used by science.

In short, there is no working definition of consciousness that scientists, philosophers, lawyers, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, computer scientists, AI scientists, and other relevant experts can agree upon.

The range of interpretations and definitions for consciousness

This list is not exhaustive, but intended to give a flavor for the range of interpretations and definitions and possible capabilities or qualities for consciousness, many of which can be combined:

1. All of the human mind.
2. All of the human mind except for the unconscious human mind.
3. What sets humans apart from beasts. (What separates man from beasts.) Vague, but by definition, animals and AI systems would be excluded from possessing consciousness. Technically this is about reason, so the implication is that consciousness refers to reason.
4. Capacity to understand. Human-level meaning. Not simply storing and retrieving raw information as a machine could do, or going through life without a conscious sense of meaning, such as an animal.
5. Sense of self.
6. One’s sense of authenticity.
7. One’s personality.
8. Self-awareness. Awareness of self.
9. Awareness. Vague. Non-specific as to inner vs. external awareness.
10. Awareness of an inner self. Inner awareness is required for consciousness.
11. Sense of morality, values , ethics, and conscience.
12. Free will.
13. A sense of desire, intent, volition, or will. A sense of being active and engaged in the environment. A passive AI system, such as a search engine or chatbot (which only responds when requested) would lack this sense of consciousness.
14. The ability to perceive and respond to sensory input.
15. If an entity (person, animal, machine) can feel pain, then by definition it is conscious — it has consciousness.
16. If an entity (person, animal, machine) can NOT feel pain, then by definition it is NOT conscious — it does NOT have consciousness.
17. Metaphor of a stage in a theater. A venue for where the various mental functions and mental activities of the human mind play out. Consciousness is the stage which enables mental activities, but itself is unconcerned with the content, including morality and ethics, of those activities.
18. Animals have consciousness as well, not just humans.
19. Animals do NOT have consciousness, by definition, since they are not human.
20. All living things have consciousness. Even plants, trees, bushes, flowers, grass.
21. Everything that exists has consciousness. Even rocks, mountains, sand, sky, wind, weather, water, the planets, moons, asteroids, comets, stars, galaxies, and even the entire universe.
22. Group consciousness. Resulting from close proximity and shared experience of a number of individuals.
23. Cosmic consciousness. The entire universe and everything in it is one giant and holistic consciousness.
24. AI, robots, and machines. Artificial consciousness. Both the concept of a programmed consciousness and a developed and learned consciousness.
25. AI, robots, and machines do NOT have consciousness, by definition, since they are not human.

Consciousness as a spectrum, broad or narrow

Consciousness may be a wide range of possibilities, a spectrum. But, it could be:

1. Broad. Humans, animals, AI, machines, other things, maybe even everything. And may include any combination of their qualities and capabilities.
2. Narrow. Humans only. Or only a narrow range of qualities and capabilities.

Why are there so many interpretations and definitions for consciousness?

1. In a nutshell, people have a diversity of views as to what should be included or excluded from the concept of consciousness.
2. Each person has an agenda for what they want consciousness to mean.
3. What they include is what is important to them.
4. What they exclude is what they either don’t find of high value or explicitly don’t wish to address.

Consciousness as a definitional truth

Maybe there is no truly objective definition for truth. Maybe it’s strictly subjective. With each group or even each individual having their own definition of consciousness, so that the truth of consciousness is simply whatever and however the group or individual defines it to be — it’s a definitional truth.

Fielder’s choice whether consciousness and sentience are synonyms

Depending on how you define consciousness, some people consider consciousness and sentience to be synonyms and others consider them relatively distinct.

Core definition for consciousness

I’ll offer two approaches to a definition of core consciousness, the starting point and common ground before people start supplementing the core definition with their own pet qualities:

1. Sentience. The ability of an entity (human or animal or machine) to process and respond to sensory input from its environment. Generally requires being awake, alert, aware, and responsive.
2. Metaphor of the stage in a theater upon which mental processes and mental functions play out. Whether thought, reasoning, observation, listening, feeling, or speaking or other forms of communication. The stage is neutral with respect to the content of the mental processes and mental functions playing out, including, for example, morality and ethics.

Even sentience is a matter of dispute, primarily between two competing and divergent views:

1. Human only. By definition, it would exclude animals, AI systems, and machines.
2. Inclusive. Beyond just humans, it can also include animals, AI systems, and machines.

Metaphor of a content-neutral stage in a theater

A venue for where the various mental functions and mental activities of the human mind play out. The entire theater represents the entire mind. Consciousness is the stage of the theater of the mind which enables mental activities, but itself is unconcerned with the content, including morality and ethics, of those activities. A stage which is content-neutral.

Consciousness is independent of who or what plays on the stage or what content is played — it just facilitates play and transmission of content. Much as a television, telephone, or computer, or even a newspaper or magazine would do.

Consciousness as a medium or even a messenger but not the content of the message

With the metaphor of consciousness as a stage in a theater, one can also treat consciousness as a messenger, charged with delivering a message (content), but not otherwise associated with the actual content of the message.

Similarly, consciousness can also be treated as the medium in which such messages are transmitted or played out, once again in a content-neutral manner.

Awareness

Consciousness does seem to require awareness.

1. The ability to process input.
2. But not necessarily responsiveness to that input.
3. Does consciousness require only awareness, or awareness and responsiveness? Both. But responsiveness is distinct from awareness.
4. But awareness at a more primitive, sensory level, rather than awareness in terms of the actual content and its meaning.

Does the core definition apply only to people?

My own personal view is that the core concept of consciousness — and sentience — applies just as much to animals, machines, and AI systems as it does to people, but I understand and accept that others may not share that view, possibly excluding both animals and machines, or just machines.

So, to be clear, this informal paper takes the position that consciousness and sentience can be possessed by any of:

1. People.
2. Animals.
3. Machines.
4. AI systems.
5. Interactive or sensor-enabled computer systems.

Do zombies have consciousness?

I’ll leave this question to the fiction writers — they can assign whatever attributes they choose to zombies since they are fictional creations.

Maybe some zombies might have at least some degree of consciousness.

Maybe some zombies might not have any significant degree of consciousness.

Zombies might have degrees of consciousness. Some more consciousness than others.

Overall, it would appear as if most zombies are more feral and primitive animal-like than having a truly human sense of consciousness.

Culturally, we assign zombie-like behavior to more of a sleep-walking-like mode of behavior, mostly devoid of any feeling or sense of humanity.

Did Dr. Frankenstein’s monster have consciousness?

Ditto as for zombies, although it did appear that Shelley seemed to endow the monster with at least something resembling human consciousness, but was not completely successful.

But the monster did seem to have at least some degree of human-like consciousness, more than the more primitive consciousness of an animal or of a zombie.

But definitely not full, human consciousness.

But then it depends on how one defines consciousness, how many additional qualities or capabilities one adds to the basic core definition.

So, you can have the answer to this question both ways. Yes… and no. Or just call it a solid… maybe.

Consciousness is that which separates man from beast

A classical simple rendition of the issue of consciousness in animals is that:

• Consciousness is that which separates man from beast.

Sentience of animals?

There is no general consensus as to whether animals should be considered sentient, so we end up with two competing definitions of sentience:

1. The ability of an entity to process and respond to sensory input from its environment. Can be human, animal, AI system, or machine.
2. The ability of a person to process and respond to sensory input from its environment. Can only be human.

Qualities and capabilities that people may add to a core definition of consciousness

First, if one interprets the core definition of consciousness and sentience to cover only people, other people may supplement the core definition by including any of:

1. Animals.
2. Machines.
3. AI systems.
4. Interactive or sensor-enabled computer systems.

Beyond that, a number of qualities and capabilities might be included in an expanded definition of consciousness:

1. Human nature. Is consciousness indifferent to human nature?
2. Humanity. Whatever it means to be human.
3. Emotions.
4. Feelings.
5. Empathy. Is a more empathic person more conscious? I think not. A manipulative and vindictive criminal or dictator is just as conscious as Mother Theresa.
6. Compassion. Ditto.
7. Morality. Including a so-called moral compass.
8. Ethics.
9. Sense of values.
10. Capable of feeling pain.
11. Intelligence.
12. Knowledge. Or is knowledge simply the content of memory and mental activities, not inherently relevant to the stage metaphor of consciousness itself.
13. Memories.
14. Experiences.
15. Thought.
16. Reasoning.
17. Sense of self.
18. Awareness of internal state. Both mind and body.
19. Responsibility. Sense of responsibility.
20. Personality. Both superficial and deeper qualities. But are they simply content which is played out on the content-neutral metaphorical stage of the human mind.
21. Intentionality.
22. Volition.
23. Free will.
24. Autonomy. Does consciousness imply a sense of autonomy, at least to some or even a significant degree?
25. Sense of the value and distinction between objective and subjective truth. And the fact that objective truth might not exist or be readily obtained in a given situation or context.
26. Woke. Loosely it means alert to racial prejudice and discrimination. Or wokeness as alertness to racial prejudice and discrimination. Possibly degrees of wokeness rather than strictly all or nothing. Popular in social justice circles.

Awareness of internal vs. external stimulus

The common interpretation of consciousness focuses on awareness and responsiveness to external stimulus.

What is a matter of debate is whether consciousness should also require awareness and responsiveness to stimulus from within the body or mind.

Internal stimulus can come from:

1. Drives.
2. Emotions.
3. Feelings.
4. Fear.
5. Pain.
6. Memories. Possibly triggered by some external stimulus.
7. Feelings associated with memories. Possibly triggered by some external stimulus.
8. Nerve sensations of the human body.
9. Hunger.
10. Drowsiness.

The conscious and unconscious mind

1. Some consider consciousness to be the entire mind.
2. But what about the unconscious mind then?
3. So, to me, consciousness is the conscious mind and is that metaphorical stage where the conscious portion of the mind engages in its mental activities.
4. While the unconscious mind acts behind the scenes. Literally and figuratively.

Is perception part of consciousness or does it simply feed into consciousness?

This is an interesting question.

I separate perception into three parts:

1. Raw sensory processing. The physical body rather than the mind.
2. Conscious aspects of interpreting that raw sensory data. Awareness. Attention. focus.
3. Integration of processed sensory data with various mental processes.

I lean towards considering that conscious processing of raw sensory data as more of a mental process, an actor which acts on the content-neutral metaphorical stage of the human mind. In other words, consciousness itself, as the metaphorical stage, is indifferent to all of that sensory content.

What fraction of intelligence is associated with consciousness?

What fraction of intelligence is associated with consciousness:

1. All of it. Are they the same thing?
2. Only some parts of it. Which parts?
3. None of it. Consciousness is distinct from intelligence.

I lean toward the latter. IQ doesn’t measure consciousness per se.

How are thought and consciousness related?

Again, thought as an actor, a mental process, an activity, being played out on the content-neutral metaphorical stage of the human mind.

But thought does require consciousness. Every actor or mental activity requires a stage to perform on.

Does consciousness involve or require understanding?

Again, that sounds like content and under the metaphor of a stage, so that consciousness is content-neutral, and hence neutral with respect to understanding.

Is free will part of, distinct from, or dependent on consciousness?

1. Can you exercise free will other than through consciousness? I think not. But consciousness is more like a medium or messenger through which free will can be expressed. And a content-neutral medium or messenger at that.
2. Seems independent. Consciousness can be completely driven by sensory perception or internal drives, not requiring free will.

Is desire a part of consciousness?

1. Can you have desire without consciousness? Maybe in dreams?
2. Can you have consciousness without desire? Sometimes.
3. Can an AI system have desire? Does an AI system need desire? Open research area.
4. Is desire just content and consciousness is content-neutral? My view.

I lean toward the latter. Desire does indeed play out in consciousness, but more like an actor on the content-neutral metaphorical stage.

Is physical activity part of consciousness?

I think not. Back to the stage metaphor and it being content-neutral, physical activity and the mental activity which preceded it are content, while consciousness as the metaphorical stage is content-neutral.

Why such a strong interest in consciousness all of a sudden?

In a word: AI — artificial intelligence, especially now as we progress towards the ultimate goal of artificial general intelligence (AGI), approximating a fair portion of even the most sophisticated of human mental capabilities.

We can already interact with AI in a number of ways, such as so-called chatbots, but there is confusion, disagreement, and great debate as to whether these AI systems possess consciousness.

So, we need to get specific as to what exactly constitutes consciousness so that we can:

1. Plan for how to imbue AI systems with true human-level consciousness.
2. Evaluate whether or to what degree a particular AI system possesses true human-level consciousness.
3. Some wish to regulate, ban, or otherwise preclude or limit any degree of consciousness in AI systems.

When does consciousness exist?

Does consciousness exist…

1. When you’re asleep?
2. When you’re sleepwalking?
3. When you’re drowsy?
4. When you just wake up?
5. When you haven’t had your coffee yet?
6. When you’re on the phone? And oblivious to what’s going on around you.
7. When you’re unconscious?
8. When you’re in a coma?
9. When you’re catatonic?
10. When you die? Your last moments of life.
11. When you’re under anesthesia?
12. Under hypnosis?
13. When in a stupor?
14. When drunk? Even if not unconscious?
15. When you’re daydreaming?
16. When you’re fantasizing?
17. When you’re shocked, stunned, or speechless? Unable to respond, for a moment or even longer. In addition to being unable to respond, you may also be unable to process sensory input either at all or very well. At a minimum, although still physically awake, you are not as alert, aware, or as responsive as consciousness normally requires.
18. When you’re dreaming?
19. Meditation or contemplation. Explicitly and intentionally avoiding any sensory input and intentionally unresponsive. But otherwise your mind is quite active.
20. Prayer. While you’re praying.
21. For an individual in a persistent vegetative state?
22. For an individual suffering from profound intellectual disability? Profound developmental disorder.
23. For a fetus?
24. For an embryo?
25. At the moment of your birth?
26. At the moment immediately before your birth?
27. At the moment immediately after your birth?
28. For a newborn infant?
29. When you’re facing an immediate life-threatening situation? When you freeze. When you can’t think straight.
30. At the moment of your death? As opposed to the moment after your death.
31. At the moment just before your death?
32. When you’re reading? Other than turning pages, sighing, laughing, crying, or nodding, not responsive per se.
33. When you’re listening? Other than sighing, laughing, crying, or nodding, not responsive per se. Some forms of listening might not be clearly compatible with consciousness even as other forms of listening are indeed fully compatible with consciousness.
34. When you’re watching a movie or a play? Other than sighing, laughing, crying, clapping, booing, or nodding, not responsive per se.

What happens to consciousness when you fall asleep?

Is consciousness a thing that has material substance, or is it simply a state of mind?

So when you fall asleep, is your consciousness still there, just inactive, or does it completely evaporate, like turning a light switch off and on?

Using the light metaphor, is consciousness light itself or the light bulb?

When does consciousness first appear in the development of a person?

1. When in the development of an embryo and fetus do the first signs or hints of consciousness appear, or do they even appear during gestation/pregnancy?
2. When in the development of a fetus and infant do the first signs or hints of consciousness appear, or do they even appear before a person has exited from infancy?
3. When in the development of a child do the first signs or hints of consciousness appear, or do they even appear before the child becomes a juvenile or even an adult?
4. Is consciousness fully developed in even the youngest adults or does it develop further in adulthood?

Some of these questions depend on the definition or even definitional truth that one uses for consciousness — what’s in or excluded from consciousness.

Iceberg model of the conscious and unconscious mind

I think of — visualize in my mind — the totality of the human mind as an iceberg, which has the characteristic that only a small fraction is above water — conscious — while its vast bulk is hidden below water — unconscious. The visible, conscious portion of the iceberg corresponds to consciousness.

We can only see or sense the portion that is above water. Consciousness.

We can only imagine the size, scope, and content of the portion that is below water. Not considered to be part of consciousness.

Are the subconscious and subliminal part of the unconscious mind?

Is the subconscious separate from the conscious and unconscious mind or simply at or near the top of the unconscious mind?

Is subliminal separate from the conscious and unconscious mind or simply at or near the top of the unconscious mind?

Interesting and tough questions!

Lacking any better model, I will presume that the subconscious and subliminal are indeed part of the unconscious mind. And likely at or near the top of the unconscious mind.

Just below the waterline in the iceberg model of the mind.

Boundary between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind

Not much to say here with any great clarity other than that:

1. There is some sort of boundary between the conscious mind — consciousness — and the unconscious mind.
2. There’s no clear, obvious, and bright line for the boundary.
3. The boundary is quite fuzzy.
4. The boundary is unstable. Thoughts and feelings can shift slowly or rapidly across the boundary. In either direction — forgetting and remembering.
5. A thought or feeling could suddenly pop up in your conscious mind, seemingly out of nowhere. But from mental functions in your unconscious mind.
6. Or maybe only gradually and slowly emerge, gradually coming into focus.
7. Clear thoughts and feelings can just as suddenly pop or burst and instantly disappear from our conscious minds.
8. Maybe, sometimes, if we focus and think hard enough we can force a thought or feeling to re-emerge.
9. More likely, our feeble efforts to consciously forcibly recall a forgotten thought or feeling are unsuccessful.

The question of where the subconscious and subliminal reside is contingent on where the boundary is drawn. My presumption is that both are just below the boundary — the subconscious and subliminal are part of the unconscious mind. Or, put another way, the boundary is placed above the subconscious and subliminal and above everything that is deeper in the unconscious mind.

Situational awareness and higher level of consciousness

Awareness is a key criterion for consciousness, even core consciousness.

Situational awareness is a heightened level of awareness that isn’t necessarily present for an average entity with consciousness.

An entity with situational awareness might be aware of more objects, more relationships between objects, more detail of objects and their relationships, and more subtle changes in its environment.

One can reasonably argue that an entity with situational awareness has a higher level of consciousness.

Sense of the value and distinction between objective and subjective truth and the fact that objective truth might not exist or be readily obtained in a given situation or context

1. Objective truth is of course highly valued.
2. The distinction between objective and subjective truth is important.
3. The distinction between objective and subjective truth can be quite subtle.
4. Objective truth doesn’t always exist.
5. Objective truth cannot always be readily obtained in a given situation or context.
6. Sometimes subjective truth is actually more highly valued than any apparent objective truth. May have special value or benefit to the individual.

A conscious entity must grapple with the sense of objective truth, subjective truth, and what is most important in a given situation or context.

Neuroscience of consciousness

I won’t say much at all here about the neuroscience of consciousness other than to recognize its existence.

Overall, neuroscientists are mostly concerned more with the how of consciousness — how it emerges from the electrochemical signals within and between neurons, and the organic organization of the brain into functional regions — than the what of our human experience of consciousness. The latter — the what of consciousness — is the primary focus of these notes. I’ll leave the former — the how of the electrochemistry and organic structure of the brain — to the neuroscientists.

I will note that even the best of neuroscientists are struggling mightily to gain even the feeblest of understandings of the underlying brain functions of consciousness.

Turing test for consciousness

What might a Turing test for consciousness look like?

1. If an entity can communicate interactively at all, it has consciousness, to some degree.
2. If an entity can answer ANY question, it has consciousness, by definition, to some degree.
3. Any response needs to be coherent and logically compatible with the stimulus which is available to the entity.

There might actually be five distinct Turing tests for consciousness:

1. Test a human for consciousness.
2. Test an animal for consciousness.
3. Test an AI system for consciousness.
4. Test an arbitrary computer system for consciousness.
5. Test an arbitrary machine for consciousness.

That said, overall, this is an open research topic.

Can we judge the quality of consciousness?

1. Back to the stage metaphor — we can judge the quality of the play, the players, and the content, but the metaphorical stage is content-neutral and hence not responsible for any of that other than enabling it to occur.
2. We can judge the quality of the stage or the theater, such as sound quality, lighting, seating, noise, scenery, but that’s all independent of the play, players, and content to be performed, and independent of the stage itself.
3. Some people may be better or weaker communicators, or better or weaker listeners, or more or less patient, but that’s distinct from consciousness per se, the content-neutral metaphorical stage.

But we can judge the quality of consciousness in terms of:

1. Degree of wakefulness.
2. Degree of alertness.
3. Degree of awareness.
4. Degree of attention.
5. Degree of responsiveness.

But consciousness itself cannot be judged in terms of:

1. Intelligence.
2. Knowledge.
3. Empathy.
4. Compassion.
5. Kindness.
6. Wittiness.
7. Humor.
8. Seriousness.
9. Morality.
10. Ethics.
11. Values.

Except to the degree that one chooses a definition of consciousness which includes any of those qualities or capabilities.

Overall, consciousness is simply the messenger, the medium, not the content of the message itself.

Woke and wokeness

The concept of being woke is popular in social justice circles. Loosely it means alert to racial prejudice and discrimination or conscious of social injustice and racial inequality.

In some sense it could be considered an aspect of consciousness.

From ABC News:

1. “To be “woke” politically in the Black community means that someone is informed, educated and conscious of social injustice and racial inequality, Merriam-Webster Dictionary states.”
2. “The term has since been co-opted by some Republicans as a pejorative term this midterm election cycle to signify the identity-based social justice issues that some Democrats and progressives push for, representatives from the Democratic Governors Association and Working Families Party tell ABC News.”

I see it as yet another mental activity or mental function or belief which might exist, but remains independent of the content-neutral metaphorical stage of consciousness.

Vocabulary of Knowledge, Thought, and Reason

For reference, I wrote up a very detailed glossary for the vocabulary of knowledge, thought, and reason:

• Vocabulary of Knowledge, Thought, and Reason
• https://jackkrupansky.medium.com/vocabulary-of-knowledge-thought-and-reason-9cd9350280de

References

There is an extremely wide range of interpretation as to what exactly comprises the concept of consciousness. These notes touch on only a relatively few aspects of these interpretations of interest to the author at the time of writing these notes. There is no intention here to explore, elaborate, or even mention all theories of consciousness here in these notes.

For more on the various theories of consciousness, check out the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy page on Consciousness:

• Consciousness
• https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/

Also check out the Wikipedia article on Consciousness:

• Consciousness
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness

For more of my writing: My Five Main Areas of Focus.