Consciousness as a factor in evolution

Abstract

What I call the mind began as a non-conscious robotic biochemical process control system in the very earliest forms of life. As life evolved, problems in control became more difficult and exceeded the computational capabilities of the organisms. Nature discovered a means of transcending computable physical processes resulting in non-computational subjective mental capabilities that, while still not conscious, had a degree of genuine autonomy from the physical world. These autonomous subjective wants and goals now affected the course of (but not the mechanism of) evolution. The integrated amalgam of robotic and transrobotic unconscious capabilities eventually gave rise to consciousness, which became an even more important factor in the course of evolution. The processes responsible for transrobotic mentality are conjectured to leave evidence in the physical world in the form of violations of conservation laws, evidence that future experiments may be able to detect.