Super-reality, super-awareness, consciousness and cognition

So much human (and, probably, animal) cognition proceeds against a background of consciousness. Yet the latter remains poorly characterised. As a result, how cognitive functions are related to consciousness remain uncertain. A fundamental problem may be a misunderstanding about the nature of the environmental conditions in which they evolved - sets of independent, recurring 'factors' (the standard Darwinian assumption); or more complex changing conditions of 'constantly novel' experiences. This paper shows how the latter formed the basic biophysics of the origins of life, suggesting a new characterisation of consciousness and cognition. That bio-logic then affords a clear and continuous evolutionary pathway to subsequent, more complex, forms. It is illustrated, here, through different levels from single cell metabolics, through early social forms, developmental processes, physiology and brain functions, to its dazzling manifestation in human socio-cognition.