Free The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku

consciousness. A flower with ten feedback loops (which measure temperature, moisture, sunlight, gravity, etc.), would have a Level 0:10 consciousness.
    Organisms that are mobile and have a central nervous system have Level I consciousness, which includes a new set of parameters to measure their changing location. One example of Level I consciousness would be reptiles. They have so many feedback loops that they developed a central nervous system to handle them. The reptilian brain would have perhaps one hundred or more feedback loops (governing their sense of smell, balance, touch, sound, sight, blood pressure, etc., and each of these contains more feedback loops). For example, eyesight alone involves a large number of feedback loops, since the eye can recognize color, movement, shapes, light intensity, and shadows. Similarly, the reptile’s other senses, such as hearing and taste, require additional feedback loops. The totality of these numerous feedback loops creates a mental picture of where the reptile is located in the world, and where other animals (e.g., prey) are located as well. Level I consciousness, in turn, is governed mainly by the reptilian brain, located in the back and center of the human head.
    Next we have Level II consciousness, where organisms create a model of their place not only in space but also with respect to others (i.e., they are social animals with emotions). The number of feedback loops for Level II consciousness explodes exponentially, so it is useful to introduce a new numerical ranking for this type of consciousness. Forming allies, detectingenemies, serving the alpha male, etc., are all very complex behaviors requiring a vastly expanded brain, so Level II consciousness coincides with the formation of new structures of the brain in the form of the limbic system. As noted earlier, the limbic system includes the hippocampus (for memories), amygdala (for emotions), and the thalamus (for sensory information), all of which provide new parameters for creating models in relation to others. The number and type of feedback loops therefore change.
    We define the degree of Level II consciousness as the total number of distinct feedback loops required for an animal to interact socially with members of its grouping. Unfortunately, studies of animal consciousness are extremely limited, so little work has been done to catalog all the ways in which animals communicate socially with one another. But to a crude first approximation, we can estimate Level II consciousness by counting the number of fellow animals in its pack or tribe and then listing the total number of ways in which the animal interacts emotionally with each one. This would include recognizing rivals and friends, forming bonds with others, reciprocating favors, building coalitions, understanding your status and the social ranking of others, respecting the status of your superiors, displaying your power over your inferiors, plotting to rise on the social ladder, etc. (We exclude insects from Level II, because although they have social relations with members of their hive or group, they have no emotions as far as we can tell.)
    Despite the lack of empirical studies of animal behaviors, we can give a very rough numerical rank to Level II consciousness by listing the total number of distinct emotions and social behaviors that the animal can exhibit. For example, if a wolf pack consists of ten wolves, and each wolf interacts with all the others with fifteen different emotions and gestures, then its level of consciousness, to a first approximation, is given by the product of the two, or 150, so it would have Level II:150 consciousness. This number takes into account both the number of other animals it has to interact with as well as the number of ways it can communicate with each one. This number only approximates the total number of social interactions that the animal can display, and will undoubtedly change as we learn more about its behavior.
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