Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the point at which consciousness knows its own pattern as different from the flux around it. Consciousness is the process of recursive self-modeling. Self-awareness is the result: the agent knows that it exists, and knows that it acts. The agent can divide its boundaries from the remaining flux of infinite change. Self-awareness changes a conscious pattern into a moral agent. Only an agent that knows its own self can know other agents, accept responsibility, and give or refuse consent.