The Big Bang and Consciousness

[Busby]

If we describe consciousness as that which all sentient beings have then we have to do some serious thinking when we talk about the BB.

We know from all that we have seen and read how the BB is described as being extremely loud, with massive explosions, great searing flames of fire (presumably oxygen was on hand), collisions of masses of chaotic energy, then eventually colliding galaxies, planets crashing into each other, the moon being torn out of what is now the Med. and so on...

BUT

if there were no consciousnesses at that time then all of those billions of years would have passed in darkness and in silence. Without eyes to see, ears to hear, nothing to feel heat nor cold, nothing to smell the fire and brimstone... So it's a wee bit of a problem for us beings who rely upon our senses to tell us how the world around us is.

So when did the universe really start? Was it when something became sentient or can it be explained in another fashion????????