I'm also a cocktail philosopher, but isn't consciousness different to just having a model of the world and self within it? Consciousness is the lived experience. The world model and feeling of self appear in consciousness. I think a complex system could plausibly be conscious without having a belief of a self within it. Not sure if consciousness is possible without any world model though.
My impressions about this were strongly influenced by Sam Harris's Waking Up book and app.
My impressions about this were strongly influenced by Sam Harris's Waking Up book and app.