The point I was making about ethics is that consciousness, or lack thereof, has nothing to do with how I treat other humans. Treat other people poorly, and they

The point I was making about ethics is that consciousness, or lack thereof, has nothing to do with how I treat other humans. Treat other people poorly, and they will treat you poorly - consciousness or not. So you treat people well not only out of an ethical consideration, but simply because it's the most beneficial way to act. As for pain, you experience it because it's an evolutionary wiring in your brain to help you avoid harm. If you didn't recoil when putting your finger in fire, you'd risk severely damaging your finger. Pain saves you from yourself and is one of the most primitive stimuli we have. Even extremely simplistic multicellular creatures react to harmful stimuli or experience pain. Presumably you do not think they have a consciousness, but perhaps they do? The point of this is that there is no way to know anything. For all you know, it's even conceivable that a rock, or a star, or even a nucleus might have a consciousness. I strongly doubt all of these of course, but there is no way to conclusively say they do or they do not.