On the one hand, I appreciate the notion of the author that consciousness is related to any system which changes over time as a result of itself. That you can u

On the one hand, I appreciate the notion of the author that consciousness is related to any system which changes over time as a result of itself. That you can use this definition to try to measure whether a human in a vegetative state is still "conscious" is a potential use showing the benefit of this definition... What I find dissatisfying is that in the next breath, the author dismisses the possibility of a machine that changes over time in response to it's previous state to have any possibility of consciousness ever. If you do that, then clearly the definition of consciousness was useless to begin with. We are just defining the words to include things we like, and exclude things we dislike.