Raw LLM Responses

I would argue that consciousness develops as a result of experiencing the consciousness of others. By learning how others are different, we are able to realize how we are unique. An example of this is how people who don't know of other cultures are often unable to pinpoint the unique aspects of their own culture. Or how native speakers of a language find it difficult to describe how its grammar functions. They aren't conscious of these things. Its only by stepping outside of ourselves and looking in that we can begin to identify our features - and the ability to do this is granted by internalizing the knowledge of external perspectives. Of course, I've basically just cheerfully ripped off Cohen's theory of mind. I wouldn't say that autistic individuals don't possess consciousness though, but I will risk arguing that they may have a consciousness that is not fully developed to the point of being automatic - i.e. severely autistic consciousness may (metaphorically speaking) be a state of constantly thinking "left foot, right foot" while climbing stairs. Such a constant conscious thought process makes doing anything significantly harder. Alternatively, [such intense consciousness can actually be pretty zen.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnylM1hI2jc)