[wiml]

Ah, I thought this was going to be Karl Schrœder's Permanence, in which (unless I'm confusing it with a different book) a background point is that consciousness is only really useful in some niches, and most spacefaring species eventually lose it.

[jrd259]

John Varley had a short story with that idea, too. A spacefaring race that is only conscious when needed. Good sarcastic lecture about how consciousness is overrated by those who have it.