Why do we have consciousness at all? One might say, "Well, if I didn't feel hunger, I wouldn't eat." True. But why couldn't the brain simply take note of the low-fuel situation and tell the automaton body to eat? Think of the problems that would be solved. The brain wouldn't allow junk food into the system, since it would only want the healthiest and most beneficial foods. We would have no anorexia or overeating. The brain could just monitor the intake and when the internal gauge hits the "F", it tells the body to stop eating and the body simply obeys. If the muscles are too soft or the body too hampered by excess weight, the brain would just make the automaton body exercise and stay peak-performance strong.

That is what happens in most mammals, but in people, bipedalism put the hindbrain riht under the forebrain instead of way out behind it, and suddenly you have "I" because we perceive our emotions as readily as our environment. Other animals just have them but don't *think about* having them.