My Interpretation of Nietzsche / Yoav Freund

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What is "consciousness"?
It is just a word that we assign to the type of thought
processes that we think are unique to us and are not possessed
by less developed creatures (not to mention computers).
Nietzsche agrees that this is the latest development in evolution
("the latest development of the organic") but thinks that we
tend to overestimate its importance.
Instinctive behavior is much more important to our survival than
conscious behavior. Had we stopped following our instincts to eat,
drink and procreate, our species would have been long gone.
What I like best about this piece is the suggestion that our public
preoccupation with consciousness is a defense mechanism. Because
conscious thought processes are still "under development", it is
useful that we focus on them in our discourse and are proud to show
them off. This way they are more open to scrutiny and modification
than if they were seen as mundane and their poor guidance was followed
without much criticism.
While this piece was written well before Turing and the notion of AI,
I think it carries an important message for AI. That is: don't concern
yourselves too much with consciousness, it is not that important.
Better work on getting knowledge and making it instinctive, i.e.
automatic and reactive, i.e. computer code, rather than putting it
into a "universal" framework that will solve, with one fell swoop,
optical character recognition (OCR), speech recognition, planning,
game playing, and the creation of original music.