Hi Dimebag, and welcome
I'm not sure I can attempt to answer your questions. However, there's a book on the subject of consciousness that I started a while ago that I was distracted from and want to get back to. It is
The Feeling of What Happens by Antonio Damasio.
Are you familiar with that book? I thought it gave a very insightful scientific analysis of consciousness. It was very highly rated in the reviews. It was written about 10 years ago and I wondered how up-to-date the ideas were. It goes a long way towards answering your question number 1.
I'm intrigued by your question of whether consciousness might be an illusion. What would be the difference between a consciousness that was "real" as opposed to one that was an "illusion"?
Sorry to throw questions back at you. It's a fascinating subject. I think if there's one thing our minds have evolved least successfully to understand it is...our minds.
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