After all, that's basically what the brain is. I mean this as a serious question, and I'm sure atheists have an answer, which I'm curious to know. (Although I don't believe in an interventionist God, I'm very inclined towards there being a 'First Cause' to the universe, or, if you will, a creator, largely because of this question.
2006-10-26 06:54:12 · 9 answers · asked by White_Clothes_Scare_Me 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Some really good answers already (and some pointlessly insulting answers) but I wonder if sentience really is just consciousness. I kind of perceive it as being more than that. But possibly that's just an example of someone overcomplicating something. I guess we do tend to create artificial constructs to make sense of things.
2006-10-26 07:29:36 · update #1
The mind is the software running on the brain. That is, the 'mind' is merely the changing state of the brain.
A neuron is effectively useless. It can only implement 'not', 'and', or 'or'. It cannot, for example, implement 'xor' (the mathematics behind this is difficult to explain, it has to do with partitioning the state matrix with a single line -- which can't be done for xor). The transistor is almost exactly the same -- though you need two to make 'and' & 'or'.
Your computer's CPU is made up primarily of transistors -- one transitor is not a computer. Even a million put together is not a computer. A million put together in a certain way becomes capable of processing -- there are many different ways to put the million to gether to get processing potential. But only when you start putting energy into it do you get state changes and thus processing.
The brain is the same way. We say that the 'mind' is an emergent behavior of the brain. That is to say, the processing goes on because of energy differentials (energy provided by metabolism, passed by neurotransmitters and electrical signals) between neurons, and what is processed, the software, is the changing state of those differentials, much like transisters turn on and off in a CPU to regulate between current flowing and current not flowing, all of them coming together to run Linux.
2006-10-26 07:00:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a neurologist but I have sufficient knowledge of the human brain and its physiology to know that neural synapses spontaneously grow as a response to stimuli hence a primitive hunter species which constantly relies on its intelligence to hunt will develop bigger brain capacity. Bigger brain capacity equals greater success in hunting and the process becomes self perpetuating. It poses no problems whatsoever for evolution. Given the timescales involved it is inconceivable that the "Alpha-species" i.e. mankind would not develop a superior brain capacity purely as a result of natural causes.
2006-10-26 14:19:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Brains have evolved right along with spinal cords, eyes, hearts and everything else in the body. The fossil record points to a long history of organisms progressing from simpler toward more complex. It's obvious if you look at what was alive 1 billion years ago versus what was alive at 500 million years right up to today.
2006-10-26 13:59:36 · answer #3 · answered by Gene Rocks! 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Our brains work alot like the other animals' brains do. Dendrites and neurons firing at eachother in responce to stimuli. In keeping with natural selection, survival of the fittest and such, those whose brains told them to jump out of the path of a predator lived to procreate and pass those genes on to their offspring. We have developed a consciousness as part of our self-defense and survival needs. I believe that many animals are also self aware, even if on a different level of consciousness. I have some empathic abilities, and my cats actually communicate with me in many basic ways to tell me of their love for me and to fulfill their needs. Does that mean cats belong in church? No. Am I a nut? No, I'm a normal person who has done alot of searching inwardly and outwardly to find life's truths. Just be open-minded about life and reality. Don't slam the door on knowledge just because it conflicts with scripture.
2006-10-26 14:17:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you serious?
The answer is evolution. There is a long record of complex systems developing over time.
It's obvious by your question that you don't understand evolution, nor much else, so you would really do yourself a favor by educating yourself before trying to insult the theory that the evidence supports.
2006-10-26 14:00:42 · answer #5 · answered by Michael 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The same way that you explain God - via circular arguments. You want the answer? Its all contained in the Theory of Evolution. Try reading up on it.
2006-10-26 14:05:01 · answer #6 · answered by YDoncha_Blowme 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I going with "I don't know"
You can run with that and paint a majik sky daddy into the picture, but my answer in no way implies or supports that.
2006-10-26 13:59:00 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The proof of this pudding is in the eating.
Oh, I'm sorry, but I do get two points for it.
2006-10-26 14:26:02 · answer #8 · answered by Iain C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
same thing as everything else: Lucky chance!
2006-10-26 13:58:36 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋