> you could argue a certain types of self-modifying or monitoring code has an awareness of itself.
Having a representation of itself doesn't mean it has an awareness of itself.
Having a representation of itself doesn't mean it has an awareness of itself.
Maybe or maybe not. This is the nub of the debate. I would argue that answering "yes" to this is a partial endorsement of pan-psychism. If the ability to experience qualia is property of certain algorithms or types of information flow then it's a fundemental property of the universe.
Thought experiments about p-zombies and mind simulation are an interesting litmus test to separate different points of view on this.
(sorry) This would mean, at a minimum, that every biological entity down to single cell organisms are conscious. They could be, I don't know.
In your lingo, something can know what it looks like without taking its aspects into consideration.
I think the inverse is true, though: something that cannot perceive a representation of itself cannot be self-aware.