doesnt everything have self awareness?

[Stranger]

Animals lack abstract thought.  That means they do not have the ability to think about themselves, and in that sense lack reflective self-awareness.  Of course, they feel what they feel, and want what they want, like what they like, etc., but they lack the capacity to think about what they feel, want and like.  It just is.  

If an animal experiences distress, it will do whatever it can to improve its condition.  But an animal will never bemoan its fate, or think, "why me?"" because it lacks the capacity to imagine things having been different than they are.  An animal will not think, "am I good at this?"  or "am I attractive?" because the capacity to do so is simply not there.  Its experience is a continuous reaction to whatever is happening right now, because there is no capacity to project itself into a possible future (and either worry about or anticipate it) or reflect on its past.  It lives in the moment.  

That is what makes this funny (it could literally never happen):


If you want to understand this better, I recommend reading Mark Leary's "The Curse of the Self."

I should also say that many species which we lump together as "animals" seem to be somewhere between 2nd and 3rd density. I'm quite convinced that dolphins and whales are 3rd density, because they seem to have the capacity for complex intentionality which pure 2nd density does not allow (although hive mind insects seem to mimic it well with instinct alone - that's a bit of a puzzle to me). I'm not sure where crows and parrots are on that spectrum either, but likely not pure 2nd density either.