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Writer's Block: Destined for greatness
Mar. 29th, 2010 10:56 am[Error: unknown template qotd]
Neither. I absolutely don't believe in any sentient 'higher power' like a god, but I also believe that choice is, strictly scientifically speaking, a bit of an illusion. Consciousness and sentience are probably the universe's greatest slights of hand because in the end, all they are is the result of neurons firing in our brains. What we see ourselves do, what we think we've chosen, decided... really it was decided for us by our unconscious minds milliseconds before we consciously 'make' the decision. In that sense, we're really entirely autonomous.
But we can't live that way. We have to believe that we have control, choice, that we're not just slaves to the science of our neurological make-up. So it's an illusion that I happily accept and don't think too much about - que sera sera.
Neither. I absolutely don't believe in any sentient 'higher power' like a god, but I also believe that choice is, strictly scientifically speaking, a bit of an illusion. Consciousness and sentience are probably the universe's greatest slights of hand because in the end, all they are is the result of neurons firing in our brains. What we see ourselves do, what we think we've chosen, decided... really it was decided for us by our unconscious minds milliseconds before we consciously 'make' the decision. In that sense, we're really entirely autonomous.
But we can't live that way. We have to believe that we have control, choice, that we're not just slaves to the science of our neurological make-up. So it's an illusion that I happily accept and don't think too much about - que sera sera.
