I've never devoted a lot of thought to consciousness but if you hang around animals, you know its not unique to humans. It appears it can be displayed by birds, reptiles and even sharks. The comment that caught my eye was your tiny comment on the oh so important topic of morality. Now that's one I work on. If you were to define that properly, somehting pretty much no one attempts, you could answer a lot more of your questions. Consciousness and moral instincts are related.