What are we even doing?

submitted by magnora7 from self.CriticalThoughts

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

so scientifically you could argue that we are immortal.

I think you are on to something here. Our consciousness just changes forms. It seems clear consciousness exists for tiny things like bugs, why not bacteria? Why not cells? Why not molecules? Why not atoms themselves?

Obviously the complexity of expression changes as the lifeforms become simpler, but the ability to be aware itself never seems to completely vanish. And it also explains how we became conscious in the first place, because it was always there. And it also means everything in the universe is conscious.

I've heard this philosophy called "Hylozoism" and I find it interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylozoism

And in a sense it could also explain the "reincarnation" of Buddhism, and the "afterlife" of other religions. I think human consciousness is a "democracy of cells" in some sense, and even if the nation falls apart the people in it live on, so to speak. The atoms of a dead body never go away.

[–]Zombi 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Consciousness doesn't exist and the reason everything seems conscious (the reason it's "always been there") is due to it all being governed by the laws of the universe. Consciousness itself is just a byproduct of very specific reactions between very specific particles.

If you're like me you don't believe in free will and if we go even further you don't believe there's really any fundamental difference between yourself and a rock. You're makeup just allows your atoms to move in a way which seems autonomous, but is still at its core just atoms interacting with each other: no different than a rock.

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I would go the other way and say consciousness it the only thing I know for sure that does exist.

I agree on the free will thing, we probably don't have it, just the illusion of it (which feels the same as actually having it)

[–]Zombi 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Hm, I guess it can be both now that I think about it. The physical reactions that create consciousness as we know it and the consciousness itself are one in the same. You're right in the literally the only thing you or I can be certain of is that we are conscious (pertaining to ourselves, not others).

I get into a lot of debates about free will with people. Most outright reject my philosophy on the matter as it takes away the (illusion of) their control over their lives, but I cannot fathom how we can logically think we have it. If your mind is the product of your brain and your brain is the product of a specific arrangement of atoms, then logic follows your mind is governed by the exact same principles that atoms are governed by; meaning so long as you know the exact conditions of those particles you can predict the outcome of each interaction. If we could interpret the interactions between those particles within your brain with 100% certainty/accuracy then we would be able to literally read your mind. If we knew the exact conditions of every particle we could read your future.

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I agree completely with everything you said.

I think the trick to it is that even a game of pinball is 100% physics, but it still "appears" random, simply because of our lack of complete knowledge (aka our ignorance). And we will never ever be in a situation where we are without ignorance, simply due to our limited range of perception as a human being with a human brain. So things still appear random at times, and we still appear to have free will, and it'll never not be the case. But every word of what you said is true as well.