Child of a Metal God

I'm not entirely sure that consciousness exists. I think our brains have a big chunk of equipment that makes snap judgments on a neural processing basis, and then a second more complicated set of equipment that attempts to match the patterns and decisions coming from the first chunk against past decisions and results, and then rationalizing the choices we make based on the snap judgments as a system for forming yet more patterns and results and establish a system that incorporates all the past choices/decisions/patterns. That process, in humans, and likely in other animals, is snazzy enough to start analyzing the analysis process, and that's what's going on when we're thinking about how we think.