So maybe it's like that always, even if you don't remember. You sometimes feel pain, but since you are sedated, you don't feel stressed about the pain.
a) that you woke up
b) that you remember having woken up
1: https://www.asahq.org/madeforthismoment/preparing-for-surger...
That's something else though. You could be very aware but forget it.
This means that you've essentially become two different people. It's really good if you're into that sort of dark sci fi stuff.
Effectively it's the same.
That's why there's been a push towards refining sedation techniques further both to reduce the odds of a patient being conscious during surgery and also to reduce the amount of stress it can put on the body.
As my mom tells it, i walked myself to the car, behaved like a weirdo with my feet on the dashboard (never done this once in my life).. sprinted out the car, up the stairs, fell, got up.. went to the sofa, and fell asleep for a few hours.
So clearly I was not out for the entire period I had amnesia for. It makes me wonder what parts I was unaware of vs what parts I was aware but memory wiped.
This line of thought gets kind of philosophical though because I often can’t recall my drive home from work - does that mean I wasn’t conscious? No! - highway hypnosis is yet another interesting consciousness (or lack of) phenomenon.
After a bit of practice you don't have to think about all the intricate actions you have to take to drive a car or ride a bike. Consciously you can focus on something else while other parts of you are aware of your surroundings and what you need to do to drive/ride.
Same with simply walking. Unless you're in unfamiliar/dangerous terrain, you normally don't have to think about where you're going to put your feet or your balance. Your subconscious awareness and competence takes care of all that.
It doesn't mean you're not aware or conscious on some level and to some degree, though.
It seems like consciousness is the conductor and puts to use whatever it has access to (motor function, sensory inputs, memory). Any of those can be significantly impaired (limbs/senses lost, imperfect memory) and the conductor simply adapts and focuses on what remains.
In my view, memory is not a requirement for consciousness. It is required for learning a language to communicate about your consciousness but not for the process itself. You can be fully aware of yourself and your surroundings without referring to previous experience.
Counterpoint: Yes! Why not? You didn't need to be conscious for it... I think that's how deep habits work. How would you define conscious in a way that you could count that?