You don’t think these companies have produced meaningful change? They’ve meaningfully changed the world far far more than Musk companies. Clearly you are a fan of the Musk companies more, but who cares?
No one here is saying animals aren’t conscious. An interesting question is when does it start? Is a worm conscious, an insect, a single cell, an atom? There’s no obvious dividing line which is what makes it so mysterious. What is the building block that enables more complex conscious beings?