[raw23]

Self referential loops in the brain may indeed be the mechanism for our sense of self awareness but to go on and say this makes consciousness any less mysterious is a non-sequitur.

How would any combination of neurons and interconnections between the neurons (feedback loops or not) explain the emergence of a subjective first person experience i.e. consciousness

This might be a confusion of words and not reality. If you define consciousness as self awareness then we are talking about two different things.

[stupidcar]

My point is exactly that a subjective first-person experience is self awareness. The root of all conscious experience is an awareness of own awareness, a sense of our own senses, the difference between them, etc. I would challenge anyone to come up with a definition of conscious experience that does not, ultimately, boil down to a form of self-referential sensory input.

[kainolophobia]

What do you imagine as the difference between consciousness and self-awareness?