What is consciousness and self-awareness? Self-consciousness can be copied into another body like a body without consciousness, right?

Today's philosophy, psychology and neuroscience do not have a complete and accepted theory of "self-consciousness", but are still in a situation of contention. This is my personal opinion and any discussion is welcome.

1. It all starts with differentiation. There is a coin sorting machine, we put all kinds of coins together, the machine can automatically classify the different denominations of coins and finally package. We are like this coin sorting machine. Our brains sort and wrap the "me" and the "not me". When we talk about "differentiating," whether it's between a dime and a dollar, or between an "I" and a "non-I," the first thing we assume is that they are objectively different. A dime and a dollar have different sizes and weights, so the coin sorting machine can distinguish the two coins by measuring their size and weight. In other words, different diameters and weights correlate with different results in distinguishing coins. More abstractly, objective differences in inputs cause different outputs of the causal relevance of the system. When this abstract concept is concretized to the question of "self-consciousness", it is concluded that the distinction between "I" and "non-I" is a classification of input by the brain's internal mechanism. These internal mechanisms are also objective, such as how a coin machine measures size or weight and compares them into categories, or how the human brain creates "self awareness" through its perception of the physical presence of "me" and "non-me".

2. The physical existence of "Me" and "not me" -- "Self" Continue to look at the coin machine and imagine a situation where the size and weight of a dime remain the same. Instead, change the word to a dollar and mix it with the original dime. Can the previous coin machine be distinguished? Can't. Because there are no sensors that can transmit the words on the coin's surface. Or to put it anthropomorphically: its senses are limited. Do you think that the space in your stomach cavity the space in your gut is part of your body? Most people intuitively feel that they are part of the body, but from a topological point of view, the gastrointestinal space is outside the body, not inside. Why does our mind think of the gastrointestinal space as the body? We have sensory limitations. We rely on our senses to make distinctions. Our senses are touch, hearing, smell, taste and sight. All kinds of sensory information is collected into the brain, filtered and mixed to distinguish the body's position, cold and heat, pain and itching and so on. At the same time, the brain can exert control over the body, which is eventually fed back to the brain by the senses. Actions such as emotions and thinking are also part of the processing process in the brain. The perception of the physical difference between "me" and "non-me" through the senses is what distinguishes "me" from "non-me".

3. Relatedness is key -- "Awareness" Look at the coin machine again: Does the coin machine have a sense of value when it sorts different coins into dimes or $1 slots? Apparently not. Why is that? There is no connection of noble or inferior information. The connection of information is the key to consciousness. What is association, simply put is causal association, there is A B. Is there a connection to the coin machine? There is no relation of nobility or inferiority, but there is a relation of size or weight. Are coin machines "self-aware"? No, because it can't distinguish between "coin machines" and "non-coin machines". But are coin machines "conscious"? I don't know, it depends on the definition of consciousness. If we define "coin discrimination" as "the ability to distinguish coins according to weight or size differences," this coin machine has "coin discrimination". If defined as "the ability to distinguish between coins by learning their differences", the aforementioned coin machine does not have this "awareness", but the coin machine using some artificial intelligence (such as BP neural network algorithm) can. Some will argue that coin machines, which compare by weight and size, and artificial intelligent coin machines are unconscious because they passively execute programs. My answer was, "In my opinion, we are passively executing the program, and 'consciousness' is only part of the program."

4. The system is an important carrier. The difference between us and the coin machine is that we have a more complex system, a more complex internal mechanism. This gives us the ability to distinguish coins more cleverly and flexibly. Our brain, whatever it is made of, can passively change and adjust according to the input, passively forcing us to feel, to control, even to feel control. Thus, we have the passive ability to feel the existence of the body, we have the passive ability to distinguish between self and non-self, we have the passive ability to speak, we have the passive ability to abstract, we have the passive ability to think and discuss this "self-consciousness" problem... All because we have this amazing center of control, feeling and processing -- the brain.

5. Replicability? (think of the old movie of the flies ") according to what has been discussed above, we design a robot, the robot to look into the mirror mirror (@ Filestorm mentioned experiment), it according to their own form graphics memory, according to their own actions contrast image motion response, through a series of algorithms in the mirror is their own conclusions. (We could even simulate emotions, making the robot shy away from repeated large-scale calculations.) Behaviorally, we consider the robot to be "self-aware." If you build an identical robot, the program can also run on the new robot. People, can they be copied? In theory, yes. In reality, no. 2. The human body is a complex nonlinear system, and a little difference will make a big difference (butterfly effect). From the point of view of the system, the internal mechanism and initial state of the system are decisive to the solution of the system. If the existence of randomness is taken into account, the possibility of human replication is almost zero. Conclusion: "Self-consciousness" is a classification result of sensory input and a processing process in human brain. The possibility of duplication of the human body and consciousness is almost zero.