It is the cruel trick the universe has bestowed on us so we can plan and envisage things that do not exist and be aware of our own mortality.

It “probably” only arose in mammals which is one of the last known branches of evolution. Again “probably” requiring a certain threshold of complexity born from repeated rapid evolutionary cycles, due to global extinction events.

Predators don’t seem to have much of it, and herbivores seem to have less. We’re omnivores and have evolved to take advantage of different environments and food sources. Evolution has pushed us (our ancestors) to be rewarded from living on our wits and this is helped by better ng able to plan and invent.

Did you know the unconscious mind doesn’t use language? Dreams are the way your unconscious mind talks to your conscious mind, sending flashes of the days download to your long term memory and your conscious mind inventing stories from the frames of data.

The more perplexing question is how does chemistry lead to consciousness, since that is all we are, the repeated exchange of electrons in non-uniform systems.

Oh! And google quantum consciousness, but it is a bit hokey.