Let me try an easy definition: consciousness is that which makes you get out of bed in the morning and get something to eat. Life is a series of experiences and choices and something needs to make those choices in such a way as to continue life.
If it weren't for consciousness your body would not survive, or grow to adult size, or reproduce. Of course, 'get something to eat' sounds simpler than it is in reality - you would need to be able to see, walk, grasp, understand the environment and objects at your disposal, shop, cook, earn money, be a functioning member of society - the whole bag.
But all organisms “get out of bed and get something to eat”, yet we don’t pretend that bacteria have consciousness. If you go down this road you’ll have to decide if apes, dogs, crocodiles, sharks and ants have consciousness and make arbitrary cut-off somewhere along this path.
> yet we don’t pretend that bacteria have consciousness
In my view, life is a process that is governed on the grand scale by evolution (species adapting to the environment) and on individual scale by consciousness (individuals adaptating to environment).
Bacteria do both, like humans. Some AI agents also do both - evolution and learning, such as AlphaGo, just that its environment is a Go board.
If it weren't for consciousness your body would not survive, or grow to adult size, or reproduce. Of course, 'get something to eat' sounds simpler than it is in reality - you would need to be able to see, walk, grasp, understand the environment and objects at your disposal, shop, cook, earn money, be a functioning member of society - the whole bag.