I think the determination is where the organism has an internalized sense of
being - it 'knows' it is an individual, separate from the world outside.
This is easily felt when one works with animals - but it is terribly hard to
define a test to prove this. I 'know' I am conscious - but how can I prove I
am not a cunningly written 'Eliza' program?
>One problem with this suggestion is that it implies that a relatively
>simple computer program, say CYC with its thousands of interrelated
>facts about the world, would be conscious to some degree. Such a
>program is far from being able to pass the Turing test, and we might
>not be comfortable setting the bar for consciousness so much lower than
>that for human equivalent intelligence. But on the other hand, it
>appears in nature that conscious awareness is in fact much easier to
>produce than human intelligence, so perhaps this is not so objectionable
>after all.
>
There is the key - awareness. A computer program filled with facts may not
actually be aware of the length of the Nile, but it can tell you that fact
on query.
Chuck Kuecker