Douglass Hoffstadter wrote about consciousness like this in many of his metamagical themas columns. By analogy he mused that consciousness might arise as a high

Douglass Hoffstadter wrote about consciousness like this in many of his metamagical themas columns. By analogy he mused that consciousness might arise as a higher level construct which would watch and supervise lower level functions. While he didn't really bother to develop his arguments too far the articles all had a very enjoyable Hosffstadterian writing style that made them a real pleasure to read.