Please explain, then, how the consciousness of coma patients continues to exist without any of those inputs. And before you break out the tired "ah, yes, this is the brain synthesizing consciousness in the absence of said inputs, much like the way one hallucinates under sensory deprivation" please explain how the consciousness of briefly brain dead patients continues through their brain death. I've read into most of the modern theories of consciousness and they don't hold water when compared to our anecdotal, experiencial understanding of consciousness. We'll get there, but not until the scientific community experiences a massive paradigm shift.So each instant of consciousness integrates the smells, sounds and sights of that moment of experience. And consciousness is simply the feeling of this integrated information experience.