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Is consciousness the result of physical internal interactions of the brain or does the consciousness align itself with universal rules and forces?

RickTheChemist 4 Dec 28
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Is our consciousness our self? We are born with a specific DNA in a random environment. Do the interactions of these two entities produce the self? Who are we anyway? The sum of our choice? Our will? In the end, we really do have to like ourselves, don't we? Otherwise life would be pointless and we sure would be of limited value to our fellow earthlings.

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I'm curious. Do many people of color identify as agnostic or atheist?

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I don't know

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Dr. Sean Carroll Vs Alex Tsakiris. Dr Sean Carroll on the side of Materialism. Alex Tsakiris on the side of consciousness isn't localized in your brain.
This prominent scientist says life is meaningless… and he’s serious 314 [skeptiko.com]

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This question is closely associated with the question of 'free will'.

I am not the 'full bottle' on this subject by any stretch of the imagination but I find it very interesting in how quantum indeterminacy gives rise to causal uncertainty at the synaptic level of brain functioning. This would seem to indicate that consciousness, although it manifests in the brain, is not fully causally determined in the physical world.

Exactly. A Higgs field of consciousness.

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IMO The external was first. It is an elegant balance of chaos and order. It is relatively eternal as far as we know. So how do we know all of this? Because our internal systems interact with and digest the external (Universe) to create consciousness on an arc of progress over time.

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Both.

godef Level 7 Dec 28, 2017
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That is a good question. A question I believe that can only be answered individually. How could one really provide a answer to that for another? Great question.

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Yes.

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Unless I'm misunderstanding the question, I think both. I don't think that's a dichotomy.

There is one way of thinking that all consciousness and activity of the brain can be explained by physics and biology. The other camp would say that there is a cosmic consciousness that pervades and controls all things, and our consciousness is part of that. Something outside normal physics.

Then I vote physics and biology.

We don't know what we don't know. People believe what is known is more important what what is unknown, but many scientists are the first to concede there is much we do not understand. Take dark matter and energy - they fill and control the universe, but we have zero idea what they are. We are like blind men holding the tail of an elephant and attempting to extrapolate about what the entire animal may be like.

Yeah, but I don't think this is that. All evidence points to consciousness be a side effect of processes of the brain. To say consciousness is this extra thing in the universe is to add an extra unneeded layer and then explain away all the areas where science doesn't back that up.

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Ah, the hard question. It seems to me that consciousness is awareness and for us humans, reflective awareness. We are aware that we are aware. For me, it still is part of the evolutionary process. It's physics and chemistry.

There is one way of thinking that all consciousness and activity of the brain can be explained by physics and biology. The other camp would say that there is a cosmic consciousness that pervades and controls all things, and our consciousness is part of that. Something outside normal physics.

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The human brain and nervous system and their interactions with the environment create consciousness. That consciousness consists of schema and patterns of meaning we derive from those interactions.

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The universe is electric in it's subtle nature (see "the electric universe" on YouTube). Our body is biochemical, and our nervous system, voluntary/involuntary systems are electrically controlled and/or induced. Your consciousness had a sense of the "I am" when you fetus-brain was developing...years before you could even conceptualize an "outside". It is physical internal interactions.

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Purely functions of the brain. I am no neurologist but am quite certain, gut feeling that this is the case. There is no ghost in the machine.

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