“One place to start is asking what the most basic kind of phenomenology is. I don’t think its language of complex cognition. That’s almost certainly not how consciousness evolved. It’s not necessarily its most evident functional utility (Anil Seth).” Might we start with the blush? With us from the very beginning, heralding consciousness, that is to say, the momentary collapse of identity and of meaning – the comprehension of the incomprehensible – under the value-laden gaze of the Other, my blush betrays that I care about what the Other thinks - I want to be part of the group. All this without a word spoken. Meets the definition of functional utility in my books.