Comparing the two simple entities below -- earthworm and thermostat -- and the alternative "wiring" options in each case leads to an imprecise but suggestive formula for the structure that is at the basis of conscious awareness:
Consciousness is a disconnection from the environment -- a disconnection that allows attention to the world.
In other words, the binary or two-stage model of consciousness introduces a gap, and in the space of that gap there arises information or phenomenal awareness as a new kind of re-connection.
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