[sl1ck731]

I don't know how much we know about the brain but I think inputs could be electrically simulated. Regardless, I'm not so sure "consciousness" depends on inputs as much. The assumption is its consciousness would be similar to our own but an organism that was created in a lab might feel entirely different such that we can't really compare what it would be like to just take our brain and put it in a jar.

I believe there is some phenomena related to the way people born blind visualize or think about things, but I only vaguely remember reading about such things.