Consciousness

What exactly is consciousness? When does it start? What triggers it? Are we conscious from the moment our brain finishes developing in the womb, prior to this or long after? Why is it that we can only see through our eyes and no one else's? If how we interpret different situations and our ability to view these situations as well as interpret them lies within the brain and its various systems of 'highways', of currents running through our brain to other places of our bodies telling us what to do, how to do it, how we feel and various other things. Does that mean the answer to what our consciousness is, lies within the brain?
Now, if consciousness starts in the womb, why is it that no one can recollect this event? Neither can many recollect anything before the age of 3-5, depending on the individual. Could it be that our consciousness is still in development and therefore cannot recollect what happened before our conscious self reached a certain level? Or is it that our brains are not expanded enough? Could it be that we do not use every percentage of our brain or that the activity levels are not working at full capacity? That if we were to unlock a certain section of our brain or make it work at a higher level, we would find it holds suppressed memories of our younger years?
What is it that makes us different from an AI? Is it our ability to feel? If so are our feelings just another current running through our circuitry dictated by our brain or is it something more? The soul. An aspect that billions believe in the existence of but we have yet to prove. Of course, just because it is not yet proven doesn't mean it should be viewed as fictional. Many great mysteries have yet to be discovered. Before the atom was split scientist thought it was the smallest.
Thought. Would the thought process give us a glimpse into how our conscious self works. AIs think of the problem we present them with and answer it with the knowledge we programme into them. I have yet to hear of an AI who has a thought process that is not initialized by a human. Lets say a robot like one of those robo-pets existed that was designed to look and act human. They would obviously not eat, the years of their lives would not be measurable, a virus to them and us would mean two very different things. They would not start off as we did from an egg and sperm uniting into self replicating cells carrying our genetic code. They would always be as they were made. There would be no learning by trial and error, no childhood, no real adulthood as defined by human standards. Their circuits would let them process a variety of information and proceed as necessary depending on their set parameters. As do we, except that their action would only deal with the rational and would not be clouded by emotions reactions that plague us when dealing with different circumstances. How we were raised and what we have been taught most times preset us to how we deal with a situation, how we think about it or if we think about it at all. If you get down to technicality, an AI would seem to be doing the same thing depending on what their maker programmes into them. Giving this definition it would mean an AI would have a type of consciousness yet this is untrue as they show no reaction based on self, therefore meaning the definition of consciousness is something else entirely. But what that definition is, is a question I wonder if it will ever be fully answered.
We can see through our eyes and no one elses', experience only through the body we were born into. Individual thought and experiences as opposed to a collective mindset that would allow us to see the lives of others in first person. Again we come back to the brain and our brain cannot branch out into another body and send signals allowing us to see and experience through their eyes. Our brains connect to the nerves in our bodies sending messages back and forth allowing us to see and experience only through our eyes as it is connected only to our bodies. Could this mean that if Siamese twins existed that were connected at the brain that they could see and experience through both sets of eyes. If so would they be able to control this at will, only experience it through one or experience it through both at the same time? Would they be able to pick which to experience it through? If not, why could they not? Could they be stuck experiencing things through both sets of eyes for the rests of their lives or through a particular one designated by something else? Is it something else entirely that sets our consciousness into motion or can our brain differentiate?

Loneliness

Loneliness is an emotion. Sometimes we feel this particular emotion if we lack social contact in our lives yet other times no matter how many friends we have or how many social gatherings we attend, we still feel it. No one knows what triggers an emotional feeling, often times these emotions have no rational explanation to them. Physical pain comes from which ever part of our body that was injured sending a signal to the brain that it receives, processes and proceeds to send another series of signals back to where that injury occurred telling it that it hurts. If emotional pain where like this then what exactly sends a signal to the brain that it is "injured" and what does it send its signal back to? Now, various circumstances can make us feel the emotional pain we call loneliness. One can be the lack of social relationships, something that could be easily remedied if a person where to stop alienating themselves from the world and make these needed social relationships. The question then becomes what makes some people choose to inflict this emotion upon themselves as opposed to going out into the world and trying to make these needed relationships. Could it be a part of the brain malfunctioning or functioning differently? Then there is in my opinion the more difficult of the two. The times when you do not lack these essential social relationships yet still feel this emotion. This could be due to the fact that even though there are many people around you which you frequently socialize with none of them get through the walls we erect around us as a defense mechanism against emotional pain, only to cause a completely different but just as painful emotional hurt. So then it would be a matter of which pain would be easier to live with for the individual. Then maybe it's a lack of companionship as opposed to social relationships.