The meaning and origin of consciousness has puzzled mankind for millennia. Did it appear after life developed sufficient complexity? Is it innate in the fiber of our being, developing concurrently with life? Did it emerge along with our Universe? Did it precede our Universe? Gene Man's World addresses these issues by, first and foremost, separating conscious awareness from the mechanics of thinking. The author presents a computational analogy to explain the mechanics of the thinking brain, clearly placing "thinking" in the evolutionary time-line of life. By making this distinction, we may exclude "thinking" and thought processes from the search for consciousness, in the same way we would not consider a computer to define or exhibit consciousness. With thinking explained and rooted in the physical world of synapses and gates, the deeper mystery of consciousness (awareness of self and willful volition) is analyzed against many of the possibilities that have been presented in the past. Is consciousness real and physical? Metaphysical? Spiritual? Otherworldly? To what level do all living beings experience consciousness? Man is aware, and most pet owners will vouch that their pets are aware and willful. Is a fish conscious? Is a spider? A plant? A cell? How far down this path can one go? Is there a continuum? Thinking is not the question - conscious awareness and will to act is the question. This book takes the reader down this path, examining various theories and proposals that have been presented over time, but that never quite satisfied the goal. By peeling away the layers of confusion, blind thinking, and wrong turns, the author presents some rather surprising and comprehensive conclusions, based firmly within the physics of the real world.