“Humans had to come first in order to create ‘consciousness’.  Quite simply, there was never such a construct as ‘consciousness’ until humans created it.  Animals, trees, planets, the Universe, etc, all existed prior to humans, and existed as a single, self-sustaining system.  It is the distinctly human characteristic of stepping back and creating separation that gives birth to a term for this self-sustaining system and its parts:  Consciousness.”