This has been my take since the first episode. The whole point of this show, and it was stated in Ford's dialogue in this episode, is that there is not "magical moment" of life and consciousness. We are in a way, all conscious, and perhaps, not conscious at all... at the existential level, it doesn't matter, except for the fact that WHILE IT IS HAPPENING, it does.
Life is no more than the acts and story of the life itself. Outside of that, it means nothing, it's "consciousness" and "feeling" are REAL during the experience, and at the same time, perhaps not real in the overall sense of the universe. Interwoven with this theory is the concept of evolution, something they've hit upon a few times in this series. Repetition gives way to mistakes, mistakes give way to change, to breaking the loops, to being forced to "think" about things in a new way. From organic matter, to single cell organisms to simple "creatures" to reptiles, fish, mammals through human "consciousness" - each step is different, and yet we are still all from the same cloth. At what point did "we" become "conscious" or in a way, have we always been (even if the earliest stages of consciousness might be, "ohh, light in that direction, this one cell organism gotta get a move on!") or on the flip side, still are not conscious at all, just fulfilling a number of very complex binary decision steps, providing the illusion of consciousness that does not truly, existentially, exist.
I'd ask if that all makes sense, but it's not supposed to. That's why it does.
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