///You can have a personality without having thoughts of "I" - especially with a normal mammalian brain. Personality is how you behave and feel, which can only be really different in humans (and maybe dolphins and African elephants) but not in, say, horses or zebras. How they feel IS how they behave - if frightened, shy, if hungry, graze. And feel good doing it.///

You've never been around horses much, have you? They have a mischievous sense of humor. Then again, most animals do. And the idea that they have no sense of "I" is pure hogwash. You remind me of the caninologists who insist that dogs can't smile. Anybody who has ever owned one knows that they do. Raise some animals some time. You obviously haven't.

///And I cringe whenever anybody says we evolved "for" something - evolution has no direction////

That's debatable but I have no interest in that particular argument simply because consciousness DOES have direction and that's all that matters.

///in just takes whatever isn't being used right now and turns it into something more useful.///

Your definition of "direction" must be highly irregular.

Main Entry:di£rec£tion
Pronunciation:d*-*rek-sh*n, d*-
Function:noun
Date:15th century

1 : guidance or supervision of action or conduct : MANAGEMENT
2 archaic   : SUPERSCRIPTION
3 a : an explicit instruction : ORDER b : assistance in pointing out the proper route — usually used in plural *asked for directions to the beach*
4 : the line or course on which something is moving or is aimed to move or along which something is pointing or facing
5 archaic   : DIRECTORATE 1
6 a : a channel or direct course of thought or action b : TENDENCY, TREND c : a guiding, governing, or motivating purpose
7 a : the art and technique of directing an orchestra, band, or a show (as for stage or screen) b : a word, phrase, or sign indicating the appropriate tempo, mood, or intensity of a passage or movement in music
–di£rec£tion£less \-l*s\ adjective
–di£rec£tion£less£ness noun

>>Yes, it's a happy accident that we can actually think about all of this. Way cool. ///

Considering we're a product of forces with no direction.