As far as I'm concerned it's same difference. Being a cartoon character means turning yourself into the joke.

I always thought the exploration of animal intelligence was pretty interesting. I think it's fair to assume that there are other species that are motivated by some kind of consciousness beyond instinct. Horses are apparently pretty smart, dolphins have huge brains, chimpanzees can learn symbols and gorillas can paint pictures, etc, etc.
What's been disappointing to me is how little progress has been made in communicating with them. What chance do we have with an extra-terrestrial species if we can't even have a chat with whales and dogs yet?

Pretty sure consciousness is just the accumulation of a ****load of instincts all interacting. Sort of like how complex computer operating systems are just a ****load of binary 1/0 commands where the yes/no nature of the system is hidden by just how many of them create such a massive artifice. So I don't think consciousness is beyond instinct, it's just mindbogglingly complex and feels like something different.

Yep.

Not sure about other animals, bugs, etc, but I'm pretty confident that most mammals experience something similar.

^ That's a very good point I've never considered. A great analogy with computers, and I like how it spares us from agonizing over things like "spirit" and "soul".

If you've ever seen your dog cock its head at you then you know it's experiencing some form of consciousness.

Outdated, misleading terms imo. Better off without them.

If by outdated and misleading you mean stupid then yes.

^ Not easy to define, not words I'd use myself, but they still turn up plenty esp in theological discussions I think.

I just looked at some Youtube footage of "Koko, the talking gorilla"; initially interesting, it's somehow a bit disappointing to me.

The double slit experiment undermines the idea that there isn't something more to consciousness than just instinct and mechanics.