Matter cannot be self- aware for the simple reason ... (followed by complex sentence)
Self awareness appears to be a rather simple process. I'll be the first to admit that it has not been yet duplicated in the laboratory but it's just a matter of time, a short time.
Simple brains work by pattern matching using a scheme very similar to : robotic.dlr.de
The adapative feedback network.
The complex brain of "higher" animals, in particular mamals has an additional trait. The whole brain is duplicated (at birth) except one of the halves pattern recognizes memories instead of the current senses, the combined output of current sense and memory sense operates the decision.
Human brains contain a third section, the frontal lobe which recognizes patterns in memory as they relate to patterns in the current senses. The result (quite by accident I'm sure) is self awareness along with the adaptive flexibility to modify past behavior based on memory.
(I hope you realize that I have simplified the process almost to a Republican level for you)
The result of the human tri-brain arrangement is that it is making decisions based half or more on it's own internal sense, and not the senses that are presented to the eyes, ears, nose, and other immediate sense organs. It is really a sign that you are human that you can believe entirely ridiculous things. Pretty much only humans (and some apes) are able to reject what their own senses are showing them and base a decision on what their internal memories say. You see, the human memories (via the frontal cortex) are fed back as if they were current activities.
Unfortunately for you, this arrangement allows for a looping structure to be encoded such that all paths lead back to central axiom. In your case it is a diety (Others develop a different fixation such as Einstein's unproductive search for the graviton concept or particle). It happens to almost everyone after a while because once the idea-loop is formulated, the pattern matching will tend to converge on this now favored axiom. (You could escape the trap, but it would mean modifying your customs and after a while there are probably not enough unprogrammed neural pathways to accomplish a "paradigm shift").
the "scientific" point of view will not tolerate the assertion that we are spiritual beings,
The ability of the human mind to create new worlds in thought, and sometimes in matter, is intensly spiritual. This is the reward system of the feedback training loop that makes our mind work. It's just that nailing the spiritual down to a prosaic unchanging axiom removes the actual adaptive feature of the human brain, creativity, and replaces it with ever more intricate pattern matching around the preferred axiom. When all thoughts lead to the diety, creativity is limited.
TP |
