[xpe]

People are just following the laws of the universe.* Still, we give each other moral weight.

We need to be a lot more careful when we talk about issues of awareness and self-awareness.

Here is an uncomfortable point of view (for many people, but I accept it): if a system can change its output based on observing something of its own status, then it has (some degree of) self-awareness.

I accept this as one valid and even useful definition of self-awareness. To be clear, it is not what I mean by consciousness, which is the state of having an “inner life” or qualia.

* Unless you want to argue for a soul or some other way out of materialism.