Epiphenomenalism ... This idea posits that thoughts have no meaning and that consciousness just comes along for the ride as a byproduct of physical processes in the brain; it concludes that consciousness has no causal role in the physical world whatsoever. Epiphenomenalism is in line with physicalism and the intuitive idea that, in a cause-and-effect world, free will can only be an illusion. But if it's true that being aware of things has no causal role, doesn't the fact that we are talking about consciousness and write extensively about it (because we are aware of it as a phenomenon) defy the premise that minds have no effect on the physical? Or is the curiosity about consciousness already encoded in physical processes? The last hypothetical query appears to be counterintuitive and could very well reflect the profound mystery of our existence.