[norrius]

> But if I asked you, "Why is this stove burner on?" it would be entirely normal for you to answer, "I'm making tea."

This is a confusion specific to the English language, not consciousness in general. Some languages distinguish between the past-oriented cause-why and the future-oriented goal-why explicitly (e.g. Russian: почему vs зачем).

[kragen]

Interesting! But it's not just a linguistic coincidence; it's really part of the causal structure of the world, arguably because there are conscious beings in it. In my example, if I use up the last of the tea leaves today, that can cause the stove burner to stay off tomorrow, because you might realize that the lack of tea leaves means you can't make tea. Me using up the tea leaves might cause you to visit the grocery store, too.