I read many of your articles and have thought similarly about many of the issues you write about.

Appreciate it, and always love to discuss evolution :-)

I have often thought of consciousness in a similar scope, but from an information-processing approach.

I too find looking at aspects of intelligence, consciousness, etc. as in some way fundamentally caused by information-processing (i.e., non-random information about the universe that was been acquired via evolutionary process in response to knowable environmental stimuli).

For each option that is available to a self-aware individual, there must have been some foundation of learning and information processing to make that option available

This appears, at least to me, to be fundamental and very important. I'll have to do some deeper reading of Information Theory. My ideas have been largely informed by building with evolutionary and systems theory.

even the rock contains some information about the universe

I think what is useful about using a rock as an example is that it may contain information (as everything in the universe does), but that information is random. It tells us nothing. The rock can solve no problems. It is merely subject physical law (entropy).

A crystal, for example, contains information about chemical structures

I am deeply interested in crystals. What is different between the "behaviour" of a crystal and the behaviour of a very simple organism? Are crystal anti-entropic? Any perspective would help me immensely.

how should we categorize this meta-concious? Is it simply another tool or extension of ourselves, or could it even be listed as a higher-level conscious on the spectrum of information processing?

I am certainly leaning towards humans causing a meta-system transition. If it occurs such a transition would see the emergence of some higher-level order. I would suspect this higher-level order to be more complex than the brain and to possess its own consciousness. I suspect that we are the first stage of "evolution waking up" in this sense. I am really not quite sure how our consciousness will interact with or influence the higher-consciosness produced. Of course, I think our consciousness will be largely based on technological substrate during this transition so we will already be profoundly different and able to experience things that we currently cannot fathom. What the higher-consciousness does or how it perceives us is really beyond what we can know... I would argue. I guess that is why the technological singularity is still a prudent and useful concept.