alt Hacker NewsPeople feigning inability to define "consciousness" is a social phenomenon, not a scientific miracle.
The reason is something akin to "stigma", where people refrain from attempting it because they fear the social repercussions.
Normally, you go about defining concepts by approaching it systematically. Capturing aspects of the phenomenon until you have exhausted them all.
Feigning? Okay then you go ahead and prove your claim by demonstration. Rigorously define the term such that I can objectively prove that my dog is conscious and that the rocks in my backyard aren't conscious. Then I'll finally be able to figure out whether or not various insects are (I sure hope wasps aren't otherwise I'm probably some sort of war criminal).