The problem with consciousness is that it’s both a vague term that’s been difficult to define and it has social roots that are not really universal.

The debate reminds me of a sequence in Werner Herzog’s 1972 documentary ‘The Flying Doctors of East Africa’ where multiple people are asked to point at a picture of an eye. Some have difficulty with the task. Even though it’s not scientific it makes you realize how much of what we see and recognize is a learned behavior through year of social training rather than an innate ability.

Here’s the scene (starts at 40min it’s in German but you can auto translate subtitles): https://youtu.be/MZ3MMEe3Qmk?si=i0ydc3DN3aohnrIO