We know one very important thing: consciousness is not a binary state. We have learned that different animals experience sensations, emotions at varying degree

We know one very important thing: consciousness is not a binary state. We have learned that different animals experience sensations, emotions at varying degrees. That different animals can solve problems of varying difficulty. And more advanced animals can communicate at varying levels of richness. When you stop thinking of consciousness, intellect and awareness as binary states but gradients (perhaps multidimensional), then you can more easily accept the premise that consciousness is an emergent property of the complex biological systems.