I have been pondering this for the past few days and the conclusion I reached is rather banal but fitting.

Consciousness evolved as a necessity for a social species. As humans made the intelligence for muscle tradeoff, it became ever more pressing for the species to have more complex relationships: one human being could rarely fend for itself, but a tribe had much stronger chances. It is not enough to recognize that one is with another human, it has to have a connection so that it feels compelled to help. This is where the emotional center excels: it bonds us to other humans that we never would have cared for in the first place (hence, "together we rise, divided we fall") and those who failed to bond with others (socio/psychopaths) were outcasts and either killed off out of anger or when they were injured, no one helped. In the modern environment, the individual is able to survive with the basics fairly easily, but the emotional center remains and engages as if we still roam the plains of Africa, yielding mental health issues if one does not find connection. In an indirect way, novels such as "1984" and "Brave New World" recognized technology was dismantling the connections in society and would lead to a world where people "had it all" but depression pervaded society. In "Brave New World", they drugged themselves to reduce their awareness of their pain instead of creating meaningful relationships with others, and in "1984" the government made it impossible to bond with others. In both cases, people misunderstand how consciousness and happiness are interrelated.

Furthermore, consciousness is nothing special. People place self-awareness on a pedestal and screech that it is the sign of a higher-being. Self-awareness was a necessity for a species with complex relationships otherwise adaptability would plummet. There were some surprising side-effects of self-awareness such as being able to recognize the world is governed by physical laws and the ability to admire phenomena. But this was not a one-way trade. Self-awareness brought the recognition of suffering with it. Fish (as we know them) get hungry and then they seek food. It is a simple causal relationship for them. Yet, humans feel hunger. Self-awareness gave us the added benefit of realizing that starving hurts. When we lose a loved one, self-awareness reminds us of all the joy they brought us and how we will never feel that way with them again because our self-awareness also happens to recognize time. Organisms that operate solely in a subconscious, automatic state simply go through their life. To us, it might seem like a pitiful life but we carry that burden too, only our subconsciousness manifests what we know as our "selves" and makes us aware that we are living.

Consciousness is a projection of the subconscious. All of the ideas, emotions, and lessons learned over the years accumulate and affect us. The conscious part of ourselves would be useless if we did not depend on it to survive; the ego suppresses this because it is much easier to function in society if there is an inherent self-value (the purpose of religion) than when one knows they are just the projection that is most likely to survive in their environment.

Descartes acknowledges this in "Meditations on First Philosophy". He takes a step back and essentially states that he knows nothing (later the origination of "Cogito ergo sum"), that these scenes around him could simply be "(the) bedeviling hoaxes of my dreams". Nevertheless, he emerges after some extended isolation and tumultuous spurts of thinking that this can not be a dream. Highly recommend reading the discourse. As with everything, it can be argued against, and with your insight, I think you would enjoy trying to either support or deconstruct his argument.

Discourse on the Method - Descartes. He, and many before him, argued this. Check it out if you want a thorough introduction to the idea and how to formulate your own theses.