Many living things do not have a brain. They get bye without one. Getting bye involves having access to food and oxygen so that you live long enough to reproduce. You reproduce because that is what living things do. And, because you do it, evolution happens.
Plants make their own food by (a) absorbing water and mineral salts through the roots, (b) absorbing carbon dioxide through the leaves and (c) converting the light energy in sunshine into stored, chemical energy. The process is known as photosynthesis and the products (sugar and oxygen) are food. While rooted to a spot plants get bigger and by various means organise for cross pollination and for seed dispersal.
Animals do not make their own food. They have to eat plants or other animals. In most cases this involves (a) using sense organs to find food, (b) using teeth and claws to capture and kill it, and (c) using digestive systems to reduce it to a soup of useable building blocks.
SO - my life is more complicated than that of a brussel sprout. I have to be aware of my environment in terms of dangers (lions and human upstarts), feeding opportunities (hunting and gathering), and the social dynamics (status and hierarchy) within my group. There are other groups that are the competition. The better organised groups survive.
BUT – about 45 years ago I was an idealistic Zoology student. I committed to zero population growth. I am now in my 60s and I have no children in the next generation. Am I thus a biological failure? Did I waste my brain?
It might be argued that my life choices helped shape the survivability of my group. But what group?
I moved around the world and never seriously put down roots. My professional interactions involved reproducing ideas and changing minds. It would be good to think that the world has evolved into a better place as a result – even if only in a very small way. Might that be why I have a brain?
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