If you believe philosophical zombies are impossible, as many philosophers do, then the Turing test is the consciousness test.

I sort of agree, but human willingness to attribute agency to physical objects (the willingness of the wind to blow, the rains to come, the sun to rise etc.) makes me doubt even quite strong versions of the turing test persay. I'd belive that a robot that managed to live a life in society and could make me feel that it was human like in a conversation was conscious; I think I would want it to have rights and protections.

You've got to think of what a Turing Test conversation would actually look like. See my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20518623