I don't think that "consciousness" is a condition much different than electrical charge or mass or spin. And not a big deal to the Universe, only a big deal to Man.

To a man as charge is to an electron. After all, if you eliminate the charge of an electron, you've eliminated the electron. Not of any concern, except to that electron.

If you take away consciousness from a man, you've eliminated that man.

Nothing personal.

The complexity of matter and energy and the questions which continually arise seem to be the result of an inability to "see" at small enough scales. That, in turn, is largely a function of measuring time.

Those matters will be resolved in time, if mankind has the time.

Once the conditions and preconditions are understood, the rest will seem to be simple and inevitable. And Man's preoccupation with himself will turn out to be an arrogant luxury, an evolutionary dead end, an appendage which was way too complex and found to take up more energy that it was worth.

Earth resides somewhere in the appendix of Creation, while the main work goes on and on and on. And on.

Arf