Btw: what is a feeling? A particular kind of thought? A emotion maybe? It seems to me that it's a thought which origin is mysterious, unknown, unconscious, ie not conscious.
> The perception of own thoughts is not something difficult for a computer. Just check the activity monitor or run the ps command.
It's not hard for a computer to reference itself, sure, but it perceiving its own thoughts is something else.
> Btw: what is a feeling? A particular kind of thought? A emotion maybe? It seems to me that it's a thought which origin is mysterious, unknown, unconscious, ie not conscious.
I probably should've said emotions. Emotions are more low-level than thoughts. I think that infants can be conscious without thinking at all, so I don't think that thinking is necessary at all for consciousness, yet it probably does color our understanding of what consciousness is.
Since you seem to be treating 'thought' metaphorically, how about we say that consciousness is the ability to perceive our own feelings?
Are there beings that are conscious that do not have any feelings at all?