Darwin taught us that everything in our being is a product of evolution, driven by the power of survival. Therefore any part of us can be explained as having evolved in order to enhance our chance to survive. It explains our running feet, our dexterous fingers, our pumping heart, our thinking brain. Alas, there is no detectable survival impact due to consciousness. A consciousness free brain with good memory, good thinking skills and good focus is what evolution would carve out for our intellectual capacity; a set of instincts to boot, may be. But why a sense of self, why consciousness?
So either its role is yet to be discerned, or it has come to be by another process, apart from the evolution production line.
Our ancestors would call it God. We may use more sterile, more subtle terms, but we mean the same: it’s a mystery, consistent with the Unbound Ignorance.
Gideon Writes 