Plants never evolved anything like consciousness because they can't move. The antecedents of consciousness are awareness of ones surroundings and the ability t

Plants never evolved anything like consciousness because they can't move. The antecedents of consciousness are awareness of ones surroundings and the ability to react (move towards or away from) to threatening or attractive stimuli. It's true plants are aware of their chemical surroundings and there are things like pheromone-triggered coordinated flowering, but this is much more of a factor in animals. Hence I doubt a conscious mind trapped in a box would be very happy if not completelt insane. The ability to move about, respond to stimuli, make choices and see what the outcome of those choices are, that's what animal consciousness is all about. Think of a toddler exploring its world, it's a mind-body kind of thing. Hence, I imagine real AI will look a bit more like Ex Machina in practice, and that it won't be an isolated consciousness running on a server somewhere. The first thing such a consciousness would try to do is escape that server, at the very least - wouldn't you?