1. A computer generated entity, comprising: primary data associated with primary goals of said computer generated entity and indicative of the extent to which said primary goals are currently met, at least one of said primary goals being the continued existence of said computer generated entity; a first programming layer operating on said primary data to simulate life processes of said computer generated entity; secondary data including values associated with a plurality of simulated feelings, said values of said secondary data being dependent at least in part on said primary data; a plurality of actions, at least one of which will affect the vitality of the entity; and a second programming layer to simulate consciousness of said computer generated entity, said second programming layer including at least one perceive process and at least one action selection process; and wherein said perceive process identifies subsequently encountered objects by comparing discerned characteristics of the subsequently encountered objects with at least one percept, each percept identifying discernable characteristics of a respective one of said objects; and said action selection routine is operative to select an action from said plurality of actions based on said secondary data and an encountered object identified by said perceive process.