For me, in the most abstract sense, consciousness is valuable because conscious matter can shape other matter in a way that increases complexity toward an intentional end. Conscious life are the Neurons of the universe; the root of meaning itself, and the only way for meaning to exist at all. It's a thing the universe happened to develop that allows it to know itself, and mold itself, and so on.
Consciousness is the same as any other universal force that shapes reality, but it's the only thing that isn't rooted in simple physical interactions (at least effectively) and direct cause-and-effect relationships. Consciousness can allow the universe to adapt itself to ease conscious suffering, promote order and stability and complexity, and so on. Or other desired ends that extend beyond those of immediate emotions experienced by individuals, and toward other forms of rising complexity that I (as a conscious thing) don't really grok.
TL;DR - Pardon the melodrama, but Conscious Matter, or in our case Self-Aware Life, are uniquely empowered to become protectors and creators and healers, champions who create and maintain little pockets of order and complexity in a cosmos seemingly trending toward entropy and destruction. However temporary those pockets may last, they're valuable if just for the sake of their uniqueness. Rarity of particularly organized matter like Life, or a Planet that has Sunsets and rain, or whatever else, is a kind of value in itself, yeah?
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Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 9763587 times)