philosophers are not content with mechanical "operational principles" — Gnomon

So, as I see it, philosophers take a "resolved question" and tackle at it a different angle thus being complementary to science.

Philosophy has no "settled questions" — Gnomon

That would mean philosophy only takes on questions that it doesn't ever hope to resolve. Is that really true? As I read somewhere "Astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology all began as branches of philosophy." Does it mean that after a question is deemed "resolved" or at least "resolvable" philosophy moves on to other subjects and no longer concerns itself with it?

Nevertheless, pragmatic scientists are still working on a Consciousness Meter to update the crude EEGs and somewhat more sophisticated MRIs. They are even using Artificial Intelligence to search for signs of Consciousness in Natural Intelligences that appear to be anaesthetic (unconscious). — Gnomon

I meant consciousness-O-meter as a joke, little knowing that they're already working on it, that's funny :)

Consciousness and Sentience are sometimes used interchangeably. But "sentience" literally refers to sensing the environment. And AI can already to that. — Gnomon
Let's stick to "consciousness" then :) — enqramot

Yes. Some plants, such as touch-me-not & venus flytrap, are "sentient" in a very limited sense. They sense and react to touch. But we don't usually think of them as Conscious. However, the typical scientific concept of Consciousness places it on a continuum from minimal sentience to Einsteinian intelligence. Nevertheless, some philosophers still imagine that Consciousness is something special & unique like a Soul. So, the OP seems to be searching for a physical mechanism that produces Self-Awareness. Yet, it's the last step on the continuum from Sentience to Consciousness that has, so far, resisted encapsulation.

One reason for that road-block may be the Reductive methods of Science. Some scientists assume that Consciousness is a function of Complexity. But complexity without Entanglement is just complicated. For example, Neanderthal brains were significantly larger (more neurons) that homo sapiens, but their intelligence was only slightly higher than that of a chimpanzee. So, it seems to be the single-minded interrelations of intelligent brains that produce the "difference that makes a difference" (i.e. information) in intelligence.

A current theory to explain that difference points to Social Intelligence as the difference maker. Whereas Neanders tended to hunt in small family groups (wolf-packs), Homos began to work together in large tribes of loosely-related people (communities). The SI hypothesis says that, individually, Neanders were about as smart as Homos. But, by cooperating collectively, Homos were able to offload some of the cognitive load to others. And that externalization of thought (language), eventually evolved into Writing, for even wider sharing of thoughts. In computer jargon, the collective human mind is a parallel processor.

Therefore, it's not just how many neurons a person has that determines intelligence, but the communal sharing of information with other brains, focused on the same task. Likewise, a more Holistic view of Consciousness might reveal that higher degrees of Sentience & Self-Awareness emerge from the evolution of collective Culture. Whereas Sentience is limited to the neurons of a single organism, sophisticated Consciousness (and Wisdom ; sapiens) may result from exporting & importing information between brains & minds via language*1. Sharing information via Culture is literally Con-scious-ness : knowing together". :nerd:

PS__Sci-Fi likes to extend that symbiosis to include include Mind-Reading. So, maybe human Consciousness is a form of "sym-mentosis". No magic required though. Just the ability to talk and read.

*1. For example, without Google & Wiki, my posts on this forum would read like Neander grunts.

Consciousness : from Latin conscius ‘knowing with others or in oneself’

The Social Intelligence hypothesis :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2042522/