Perhaps, but when we're forced to grasp at so much uncertainty, and with no accepted precedent for self-awareness beyond humanity (and possibly apes, by proxy),

Perhaps, but when we're forced to grasp at so much uncertainty, and with no accepted precedent for self-awareness beyond humanity (and possibly apes, by proxy), it's difficult to come up with examples that are safely rooted in reality. Consider some other chaotic organization of matter, that spontaneously forms a Boltzmann Brain? Would we be capable of defining a reliable test for a spontaneously self-aware wisp of cigarette smoke? How intelligent would it need to be, before we notice it? Would it need to start organizing it's shape in front of a mirror? What about a not-so-spontaneously-arranged swarm of self-aware nanites, which, from certain distance, for all intents and purposes, might bear a striking resemblance to a dust mote?