What is self-awareness? Do you think dogs are self aware? I think dogs are conscious at least even if they fail to recognize themselves in a mirror. Being aware that you are a consciousness requires intelligence, not just consciousness.
An alarm clock is not self aware, because it doesn't model the world, and select between actions.
Similarly, a bee, (which I believe to act on pre-programed instinct, not in the moment reason), is not self aware. This is because it selects between actions, but can not logically model the world.
A dog, on the other hand, can build logical models of the world, and then take actions based on that. It can that begging from one person results in treats, while begging from another results in discipline. It can update this logic and behavior based on new information.
I think you are shortchanging bees a bit, based on your description of a dog building a logical model of the world, I would say bees definitely qualify.
>A dog, on the other hand, can build logical models of the world, and then take actions based on that. It can that begging from one person results in treats, while begging from another results in discipline. It can update this logic and behavior based on new information.
Bees are capable of a lot of interesting and complex behavior, from learning to communication with other bees.[1] It's been theorized that they can play around just for fun, which is hard to reconcile with them behaving on entirely pre-programmed instincts.[2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_learning_and_communication [2] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/bees-can-...
I don't think a hive is self aware for the same reasons as the bee. It acts conditionally but does not create new logic models of the world.
As for the cells, I think they closer to complex alarm clocks than the bees, and are not self aware for the same reason.
I think my logic is consistent.
We get a less-predictive model for some questions and a more-predictive one for others. Sort of like how asking whether we should model humans as collections of cells, individuals or societies is freshman dorm stuff until we pair it with an actual question.