There is a famous definition of consciousness by Thomas Nagel which states that an organism is conscious if there is something that is like to be that organism. I‘ve always liked that definition even though it doesn‘t tell us how and why it emerges. But nobody knows that anyway.

The amazing thing for me about consciousness is that it seemingly emerges from the gray matter of the brain. From the outside there is nothing that would suggest such a thing yet it exists. We don‘t know when and how exactly it comes into existence but there seems to be a connection between the complexity of the neural network and the things it is capable of.

Then there is the argument that consciousness may not be reserved for human or animal brains but instead is a state emerging from a system of sufficient complexity. What if there a consciousnesses out there that operate on time scales beyond our means of recognition? This is a philosophical point of view but fascinating to think about.