evolution

[Angrboda]

I will repeat for the dumb and hard of hearing. Machines do not have consciousness. They are not aware. As to consciousness having advantages, you seem to be misinformed about the credibility of debate. I'm sure your mind is closed to debate, but that's a you problem, not a fact about the debate. There are basically two possible things going on with consciousness. A) the things in consciousness have effects that flow downward from consciousness to the rest of the brain. B) the things in the brain that are not conscious have effects that flow up into consciousness. Your errant machine analogies, as flawed as they are, do nothing to resolve this question as machines do not have anything that can credibly be demonstrated to be like consciousness in humans or any other animal. And your other closed-minded notions like model-control theory cannot be demonstrated because you have not isolated comparable systems in the brain and tied them to consciousness. A primary obstacle to doing so is that nobody has been able to isolate those parts of the brain that are responsible for consciousness. What you have is a bundle of conjectures and theories and no actual way to tie them to brains and actual consciousness. You may think that doesn't open the door a crack to allow for debate, but that's because you're mistaken.