<p><pre><code>  So DNA didn&#x27;t store any information until a conscious human learned how to read it?
</code></pre>
It didn&#x27;t. DNA is simply a complex structure, which, placed within another complex structure (a cell, containing appropriate amino acids), creates further complex structures (proteins).<p><pre><code>  Otherwise, how could consciousness have evolved in the first place?
</code></pre>
I don&#x27;t know. However, I disagree that information needs to be an independent physical property for consciousness to evolve.<p>The steelman [1] version of your view, I guess, would be that &quot;information&quot; is equivalent to &quot;complexity&quot;. Certainly consciousness relies on complexity, but it&#x27;s not equivalent. Hurricanes are very complex, but certainly not conscious. Some say that complex systems like waterfalls and hurricanes perform complex information processing, but I think this is wrong.<p>There&#x27;s a fundamental difference between a human processing information (say, a bronze age man reading about metallurgy from a wax tablet and using the knowledge to craft a sword) and the actions of DNA, or hurricanes, or waterfalls.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.lesswrong.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Steel_man" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.lesswrong.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Steel_man</a>