Thread: How are we not a computer?

Originally Posted by Praise

It only means that the subconscious mind is involved too. It doesn't mean you don't have control over what you decide. We made random generators....It's easy to be random. That's what creativity is.

You're going to make me say it again, aren't you?

Your thoughts, actions, and decisions are all determined by your neural network; the brain. The brain operates on chemo-electrical impulses by connecting with other neurons and sending chemical signals back and forth using ions (charged atoms). What caused those atoms to be there, though? Why did they glomp together with other atoms and form more complex structures? Why did they decide to jump the synapse and continue on the signal? Chain reactions. That's all it is.

An analogy, if you will: you mentioned creativity, right? What is the root of your creative nature and your creative ideas, eh? Information you have assimilated throughout your life, combined and thrown together in new ways. But say you come up with something totally original, something the world has never seen before. Nothing even remotely like it on the face of the planet. Unlikely, but what if you did? Are you unique? Do you control atoms at the subatomic level within your brain? No. Your brain directs other parts of your body to interact with matter and the physical world. As I sit here and write this out, my neurons are firing within my brain. I do not control them; I never have.

Mario92 it's nice to think you are not in control of your own actions isn't it.

Originally Posted by Praise

Mario92 it's nice to think you are not in control of your own actions isn't it.

Troll?

No, who the hell said that? Certainly not I. For all intents and purposes, it would really be best to go through your life as if you were in control of your thoughts and actions, regardless if you are or not.

As a side note, would it kill you to think about your posts for more than a few seconds? I would like to have a rational and civilized debate on the matter, if it is all the same to you.

Originally Posted by Praise

Mario92 it's nice to think you are not in control of your own actions isn't it.

Ah, the good old "I don't understand what the other person is saying, so I'll just attack".

If you subdued your outbursts of arrogance and stepped off of your percieved moral high ground, then you'd know he never said he wasn't in control of his own actions. He is saying that there is not some soul which decides according to some free will, but that the decisions we make are essentially predetermined, following cause and effect. Whatever he does by his own accord will always be percieved by himself as something he has done. Even if from a more objective standpoint it's not his fault.

Originally Posted by Bonsay

Ah, the good old "I don't understand what the other person is saying, so I'll just attack".

If you subdued your outbursts of arrogance and stepped off of your percieved moral high ground, then you'd know he never said he wasn't in control of his own actions. He is saying that there is not some soul which decides according to some free will, but that the decisions we make are essentially predetermined, following cause and effect. Whatever he does by his own accord will always be percieved by himself as something he has done. Even if from a more objective standpoint it's not his fault.

THAT.

Thanks, mate.

Originally Posted by Praise

Why argue against free will when having control of your life is a more practical living standard to have. Besides that which came first the cause or the effect?

1. A quest for truth. Nothing more.

2. Well, if my idea holds water, then all that is, was, and shall be is the ultimate result of the Big Bang. The BB set everything in motion, from which the vast majority of particles have not strayed from a relatively predictable path (with the exception of electrons and some very small particles, which we don't completely understand, but are nevertheless beyond our control).

1. A quest for truth. Nothing more.

I hope it is a quest for truth and not a bias.

2. Well, if my idea holds water, then all that is, was, and shall be is the ultimate result of the Big Bang. The BB set everything in motion, from which the vast majority of particles have not strayed from a relatively predictable path (with the exception of electrons and some very small particles, which we don't completely understand, but are nevertheless beyond our control).

Ok how did this big bang suddenly appear out of nothing.

And what came first the cause or the effect.

Originally Posted by Praise

Ok how did this big bang suddenly appear out of nothing.

That is a question mankind will debate for ages and likely not come any closer to the truth, but I highly doubt it was the act of any sort of supreme being. Far too many variables, not enough evidence. Most likely, it was caused by some sort of explainable phenomena. M-theory has a strong case. It suggests that our universe arose when two or more dimensions collided, which would account (at least partly) for the uneven distribution of matter within the universe. Another theory is that the Universe is simply timeless, and the Big Bang was a result of the collapse of the previous universe. There is currently strong evidence against this theory, but it remains on the table nonetheless. Some have said that our universe is the result of beings of other universes creating it, which isn't entirely unrealistic. Again, the M-theory tells us that we could very well create a universe separate and independent of our own with relatively little effort. Whether or not this is true is another thing, but interesting to think about.

EDIT: And what on earth do you mean by, "what came first the cause or the effect?" S'plain.

Originally Posted by Praise

I hope it is a quest for truth and not a bias.



Ok how did this big bang suddenly appear out of nothing.

And what came first the cause or the effect.

The cause, but even before that came cause's cause, and before that the cause's cause's cause, and before that came the cause's cause's cause's cause, and even before that there was the cause's cause's cause's cause's...

Originally Posted by Praise

And what came first the cause or the effect.

It was God.