I think any supernatural connotations applied to consciousness in this article may be red herrings. In his recently Blindsight novel, Peter Watts argues not jus

I think any supernatural connotations applied to consciousness in this article may be red herrings. In his recently Blindsight novel, Peter Watts argues not just that consciousness might not be a necessity for high-functioning spacefaring life, but that it might be an encumbrance. >, consciousness does little beyond taking memos from the vastly richer subconcious environment, rubber-stamping them, and taking the credit for itself. In fact, the nonconscious mind usually works so well on its own that it actually employs a gatekeeper in the anterious cingulate cortex to do nothing but prevent the conscious self from interfering in daily operations (If the rest of your brain were conscious, it would probably regard you as the pointy-haired boss from Dilbert.) http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts/PeterWatts_Blindsight_Endnotes.pdf http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts/PeterWatts_Blindsight_End...