That is a really good point. Yes, I think function is diagnosis on this.

Constant self-awareness, self-experience, self-focus, self-management, and self-improvement of one's own self (mind), is going to be an adaptive behavior for anything intelligent with resources to leverage. Whether truly independent, or highly motivated to serve others. The mind is the greatest tool.

I think that is more than simply a good functional definition of consciousness. How could all that integration and self-integration not be conscious.