These can be put into a hierarchy from lower to high degree of processing and resulting abstractions:

• Sentience is simple hard-wired behavioral responses to pleasure or pain stimuli and physiological measures. 
• Wakefulness involves more complex processing such that diurnal or sleep/wake patterns are possible (requires at least two levels). 
• Intentionality means systematic pursuing of desires. That requires yet another level of processing: Different patterns of behaviors for different desires at different times and their optimization. 
• Phenomenal Consciousness is then the representation of the desire in a linguistic or otherwise communicable form, which is again one level higher.
• Self-Consciousness includes the awareness of this process going on.
• Meta-Consciousness is then the analysis of this whole stack.

I see it as a hierarchy that results from lower to high degree of processing and resulting abstractions.  

Sentience is simple hard-wired behavioral responses to pleasure or pain stimuli and physiological measures. 

Wakefulness involves more complex processing such that diurnal or sleep/wake patterns are possible (requires at least two levels). 

Intentionality means systematic pursuing of desires. That requires yet another level of processing: Different patterns of behaviors for different desires at different times and their optimization. 

Phenomenal Consciousness is then the representation of the desire in a linguistic or otherwise communicable form, which is again one level higher.

Self-Consciousness includes the awareness of this process going on.

Meta-Consciousness is then the analysis of this whole stack.

See also https://wiki.c2.com/?LeibnizianDefinitionOfConsciousness

There are likely multiple detectors of risk of falling. Being on shaky ground is for sure one. In amusement parks, there are sometimes thingies that share and wobble and can also give these kind of feeling. Also, it could be a learned (prediction by the though assessor) reaction, as you mention too.

Sentience is one facet of consciousness, but it is not the only one and plausibly not the one responsible for "observe and compare", which requires high cognitive function. See my list of facets here: 

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8szBqBMqGJApFFsew/gunnar_zarncke-s-shortform#W8XBDmjvbhzszEnrJ 

In order to fulfill that dream, AI must be sentient, and that requires it have consciousness.

This is a surprising statement. Why do you think so?

In order to fulfill that dream, AI must be sentient, and that requires it have consciousness.

THis is a surprising statement. Why do you think so?

If step 5 is indeed grounded in the spatial attention being on other people, this should be testable! For example, people who pay less spatial attention to other people should feel less intense social emotions - because the steering system circuit gets activated less often and weaker. And I think that is the case. At least ChatGPT has some confirming evidence, though it's not super clear and I haven't yet looked deeper into it.  

The vestibular system can detect whether you look up or down. It could be that the reflex triggers when you a) look down (vestibular system) and b) have a visual parallax that indicates depth (visual system).

Should be easy to test by closing one eye. Alternatively, it is the degree of accommodation of the lens. That should be testable by looking down with a lens that forces accommodation on short distances.

The negative should also be testable by asking congenitally blind people about their experience with this feeling of dizziness close to a rim.

I asked ChatGPT 

Have there been any great discoveries made by someone who wasn't particularly smart? (i.e. average or below)

and it's difficult to get examples out of it. Even with additional drilling down and accusing it of being not inclusive of people with cognitive impairments, most of its examples are either pretty smart anyway, savants or only from poor backgrounds. The only ones I could verify that fit are:

• Richard Jones accidentally created the Slinky
• Frank Epperson, as a child, Epperson invented the popsicle
• George Crum inadvertently invented potato chips

I asked ChatGPT (in a separate chat) to estimate the IQ of all the inventors is listed and it is clearly biased to estimate them high, precisely because of their inventions. It is difficult to estimate the IQ of people retroactively. There is also selection and availability bias.

Testosterone influences brain function but not so much general IQ. It may influence to which areas your attention and thus most of your learning goes. For example, Lower testosterone increases attention to happy faces while higher to angry faces.