What Is Consciousness? Self-Awareness May Be A Side Effect Of Brain Trying To Maximize Entropy, Researchers Say

What is consciousness, and how does it emerge from inanimate matter?

After all, the atoms that constitute the brain — the birthplace of consciousness — are the same as the atoms that make up the chair you are currently sitting on. Why are we sentient and self-aware even though a multitude of inanimate objects around us are not? At what point do physical entities — neurons, in this case — give rise to something as abstract as consciousness?