Consciousness, as I understand it, evolves out of complexity. The simpler things are, the less capacity for consciousness they have. Fundamental building blocks of the universe must then be the least capable of consciousness. That's not to say they aren't "conscious," but that the conciousness they do possess is practically non existent when compared to the consciousness we, as complex systems, possess.

I still hold that our ability to create far outranks anything in the observable universe. We are actually so freakishly different from everything around us, that we might as well be aliens to this universe.

That's why I don't like being put on the level of atoms. And I already feel atomized enough in this increasingly antisocial environment.