Treating basic consciousness as a sliding scale of intelligence or self-reflection leads to troubling philosophical consequences.
Knowledge about the world is acquired not by one individual, but by all of humanity as a collective mind. The scientific method allows us to separate questionable information from that whose probability of truth is high enough to warrant reliance. In order to continue learning and drawing conclusions, it is necessary to recognize that something should already be considered a scientific fact (in the sense of a proven conclusion to date, and not in the sense of absolute truth). These are the scientific facts I am talking about. Anyone can doubt them, but to refute them, they will need more than just doubt.
There was I was were I ought - examining my conscious thought.
Perhaps science can therefore be a type of religion too.
We ought be careful not to conflate scientific fact with scientists interpretation of the fact…whatever these each may be.
For example, scientific facts have not yet established that we do not exist within a created thing. Some interpret that the facts establish that the “fact” is we don’t, but that is not really the case.