What is Consciousness?

Some people think that consciousness is the difficult thing for machines.
That maybe a machine could be "intelligent" in the sense of solving problems, but it could never be "conscious" the way we are.
But nailing down what "consciousness" means turns out to be really hard.
Here are some questions you are encouraged to debate.
There is no "correct" answer.

Are you conscious now?

Were you conscious when you were 17 years old?

Were you conscious when you were 15 years old?

Were you conscious when you were 10 years old?

Were you conscious when you were 5 years old?

Were you conscious when you were 2 years old?

Were you conscious when you were 1 year old?

Were you conscious when you were 6 months old?

Were you conscious when you were a newborn?

Were you conscious when you were a 6 month foetus?

Were you conscious when you were a 3 month embryo?

Were you conscious when you were a 1 month embryo?

If you are conscious now, and once you were not, when exactly did you become conscious?

Were the first farmers conscious?

Were the Cro-Magnons conscious?

Were the archaic H.sapiens conscious?

Was H.neanderthalensis conscious?

Was H.erectus conscious?

Was H.habilis conscious?

Were the Australopiths conscious?

Is a chimpanzee conscious?

Are monkeys conscious?

Are dogs conscious?

Are cows conscious?

Are rats conscious?

Are spiders conscious?