OT: Some of mankind's toughest questions

[Renegade 13]

Kamog said:
Then the related discussion is on whether or not we have souls. If our thoughts are merely chemical reactions in our brains, we don't have free will, because the chemical reactions must follow the laws of biochemistry and physics, and can only go a certain way. It doesn't make sense to say that chemistry follows the exact physical laws everywhere else in the world but not inside brains. Debating whether we have souls or not is hard, just like arguing whether god exists or not, because you can't see or measure it and there's no concrete evidence one way or another.

Well, with many things there is a degree of randomness involved. Chemical reactions are highly ordered and predictable on a macro scale, but on smaller scales, (ie: a single molecular reaction) there is a lot of randomness involved.

Also, if everything was predetermined, why wouldn't that be a good defence in court? I killed that guy but I didn't have a choice. It was all predetermined.

Consciousness is a concept that is very poorly understood. Slap some neurons together, and you don't create a brain or a new individual. The processes are still not understood, but I think current theories have something to do with quantum states to describe why consciousness exists at all.

Some people even believe that consciousness is required for the universe to exist. Otherwise, there would be no observer no one to force the quantum wavefronts, all the possible outcomes, to crystallize into a single reality. Really quite interesting concept.