‘Where did consciousness come from? A recent piece in New Scientist (paywalled, I’m afraid) reviewed a number of ideas about the evolutionary origin and biological nature of consciousness. The article obligingly offered a set of ten criteria for judging whether an organism is conscious or not…

• Recognises itself in a mirror
• Has insight into the minds of others
• Displays regret having made a bad decision
• Heart races in stressful situations
• Has many dopamine receptors in its brain to sense reward
• Highly flexible in making decisions
• Has ability to focus attention (subjective experience)
• Needs to sleep
• Sensitive to anaesthetics
• Displays unlimited associative learning..’

Source: Conscious Entities