I've been referred to here from http://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/8052/why-are-things-conscious. Could you guys help out? Here's the question:

What is the reason for animals or more general entities being conscious? How did this evolve? What is the advantage?

I'm aware of ideas that consciousness is merely a illusion, however I find them less than convincing. The counter-argument would follow the line "if consciousness is an illusion, who has the illusion and more importantly why?". Additionally I believe that consciousness is a bare empirical fact. Even more, it is the basis for empirical thought. That "consciousness is an illusion" is not a good idea has been discussed by e.g. Searle (a video can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCii726A4Jc)

So what are good explanatory models for consciousness?