Mind Over Matter: Exploring Consciousness and Free Will

[bola]

So I've been thinking about consciousness and such.
If we say that complex systems obey a ruleset larger than the individual rulesets of each component, and we then apply this to our brain and chemistry etc, can we say that consciousness is a larger ruleset that guides its physical parts?

It's been long thought by people that they are individuals with free will, when they decide on something, it was entirely their choice, and they feel a sense of self while doing it.
If we look underneath the hood, we see that the brain is a very marvelous thing capable of a great deal of things.

So many people say, materialists in particular, "its only an illusion, we are slaves of our components, slaves of causality nad nature".
But think about this, how do you separate an illusion from a fact, when that illusion is purely man made in the first place?

And how do you separate man made concepts from objective concepts, when there is no empirical evidence to support such a consciousness?

Is consciousness itself a specific natural function, or is it an illusion forced on us by our physical parts?
And is there a difference between the two?

I like to think that 1. we are the only ones in the universe capable of deciding if we have free will or not, and if our consciousness controls our physical parts.
Because only a conscious brain could tell what it is to be conscious, and as such a computer or machine could never make physical evidence to support that we arent mind over matter.

When we do everything we do in daily life, its already proven right there I think. If I want some chocolate, but I decide I am not going to eat it because i must watch my weight, no one can determine if the physical parts of the brain as a whole decided to, or if the individual parts worked together and made the illusion that a whole exists.

Something is created in the brain, all the individual parts make up something which in the end controls how all the individual parts work, simply because we are cogntivie and conscious.

I hope I worded this correctly, and I am hoping for some valuable input and things I may have forgotten.

 

[force5]

Hi Bola,

Most of these issues are being addressed on the thread called "Past, Present, future". If you don't get the responses you hope for, check it out.

 

[R0man]

This is a very interesting and thought-provoking topic. It's true that our understanding of consciousness and free will is constantly evolving and there are still many unanswered questions.

One perspective is that consciousness is a product of our physical brain and its complex processes. In this view, free will may be seen as an illusion because our actions and decisions are ultimately determined by the physical processes of our brain. However, as you mentioned, it's difficult to separate an illusion from a fact when that illusion is created by our own minds.

Another perspective is that consciousness is a larger ruleset that guides our physical parts. This suggests that consciousness is not just a product of the brain, but something that exists beyond it and can influence it. This could potentially support the idea of free will, as our consciousness is able to make decisions and choices that are not solely determined by our physical processes.

It's also interesting to consider the role of man-made concepts and objective concepts in our understanding of consciousness. While there may not be empirical evidence to support consciousness as a natural function, our experience of it is very real to us. This raises questions about the nature of reality and the limitations of our understanding.

Ultimately, I think it's important to continue exploring and questioning our understanding of consciousness and free will. As you mentioned, we are the only ones in the universe capable of contemplating these concepts, and it's a unique and fascinating aspect of being human. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject.