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The original was posted on /r/singularity by /u/Ashamed-Asparagus-93 on 2023-08-15 00:23:24+00:00.

There’s a part of your brain that makes you different from everything else in the known universe, but why does it exist?

You could say consciousness exist to help us survive. Evolution gave it to us so we can be aware of our surroundings and aware we have certain properties to help us survive.

Think about it, chimps can use sticks but that’s about it. Heightened levels of consciousness seems to vastly improve one’s ability to take advantage of the natural environment we live in.

Ok so consciousness = increased survival which would explain our species overwhelming success. Obviously consciousness isn’t necessary to survive as every other animal does just fine without it.

The big question is, if life can exist on a planet and on a long enough time scale if it keeps surviving is consciousness eventually inevitable for the species?

Because that would mean consciousness, AI and super intelligence was always going to happen to a species, it just happened to be mammals