> Are bees aware of their environment and position on a time line?  I expect not. 

I think they are. They will return to food sources, not only to the correct spot, but at the correct time of day. They orient by correlating angle from the sun, the time of day, flight speed, etc.

But whether they are conscious -- by your definition a self driving car would be conscious; hell, even a thermostat. So rightfully we have shied away from the question of consciousness. We don't even know what it is in human beings. 

As an aside, there are those who believe that human consciousness is a mental picture, just like a dream, which represents reality to us, but is not real. Plenty of people seem to be walking around in a dream, in any case.

PLB

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