Can't it be both? What's the difference? Evolution just responds to the environment, so a method of complex interaction with the environment like "consciousness" or "ever-polling situational awareness" seems like par for the course.
Giraffes didn't get a long neck because the food was out of reach, giraffes have a lock neck because the one without just died.
If I introduce an antibiotic into a culture of bacteria and they evolve resistance, then they appear to be responding to it on a collective level.
https://health.mo.gov/safety/antibioticresistance/generalinf...
Mutation happens all the time because cell replication isn't perfect, some mutation are irrelevant, some deadly, some bring better chance of survival.
It's not a response just the result. Or how does the bacteria know it's an antibiotic and not just water? It doesn't, water just isn't a evolutionary filter, antibiotics are.