If your physical brain makes a decision to do something...what made the decision to make a decision?

Question

...I mean...logically that would mean that your brain would have to "make a decision to make a decision to make a decision" and on and on infinitely going backwards when you trace the beginning of the thought process to "make a decision to make a decison" and so on...

Does that not prove there is a "mind/brain" separation, and that our "consciousness" IS actually floating above our brain matter like a holographic ghost?

Think about it, people...if you are your brain, then your brain decided to answer this question...okay...then your brain had to also (before that, logically) make the decision to make that decision...which means you "can't" be your brain, because if that was the case...we'd be immobile in action like a tree that only moves when the wind blows...there has to be a "wind" that blows the "brain leaves" to make them move...so there "must" be a separation between "us" and our brain...my question is...where's the flaw in my supremely logical argument? Because some science people I know have been claiming there's no separation between "us" and our brain...they've been saying that "we" are our "brain...but my logical observation about how that would mean we could never make a decision and carry it out...proves they are "wrong" about their claim...

Answer 1

The brain is responding to stimulus constantly. Stimulus can be in the form of physical sensation or thought captured. Through habit you have developed a 'person' called 'you' using memory and imagination. The brain receives stimulation and then must create the 'You' in order to 'decide' your response. The 'you' is a construct that has a set of rules the brain must first consider before deciding unless the stimulus overrides the need to consider the 'you' like in the case of threat. The thing that you are calling 'mind' is an imaginary entity constructed by the habit of making 'you' over and over. So, really, it is a ghost as much as ghosts are real.

Answer 2

Good question. To some of the prior responses, I don't think the meaning was what motivates a decision to be made (hunger causing eating) but rather how it gets moving.

Take a step back from the actual details of the stimuli and the decision, and it isn't hunger that that causes us to eat, because we have all been hungry and decided for whatever reason not to eat. This means the decision to eat was not started by hunger in actuality. Like a pinball machine, i think the question is what gets the ball moving. What's the spring that starts the electrical signals of a decision making process. Hunger would be like a bumper, affecting where you ultimately take that decision, but something has to initiate movement.

I do think there are some auto-fire decisions, or reflexes, but what about willful decisions? For no apparent reason I can straighten my right arm, hold it for 14 seconds, then stop. No real stimuli caused that aside from just seeing if I wanted to. So curiosity would be a mental stimuli, but that isn't what caused me to actually decide to move my arm, but rather just affected that decision making process once it began. Again with the bumper for the pinball.

I hope someone who has studied the brain comes in an gives us a bit more concrete answer, because now it's bugging me too. Good question.

Answer 3

For being 'laid back' you sure are reaching far back to find the source of a decision! I don't know what separates mind from brain, if anything... I've often thought there was something, but never did picture anything like a holographic ghost (nice image), nor imagine that it takes a decision to make a decision. Though sometimes we do change our minds a lot, and sometimes very quickly! I don't think our decisions go infinitely backwards, though... there are so many people on this old planet making so many decisions, I can only picture a traffic jam of psychic activity when I think of that. Anyway... good luck on deciding your best answer person! (lol) (all in good fun... your question is okay) ;-}

Answer 4

actually that is flawed logic. Some stimulus comes from outside, some comes from inside. If you're hungry, you decide to eat, there's no real mystery there.

If it's an idea that arises with no apparent stimulus, like just a random thought, it is still stemming from semi-random firing of neurons in the brain. At some point you make a decision. The brain is never at rest.

Answer 5

Nothing "makes a decision to make a decision to make...." Your brain is simply a complicated neural net, responding to inputs. If I drop a ball, the ball does not "decide" to fall, it merely follows the laws of physics. The laws governing the functioning of the brain are quite a bit more complicated and it could be argued involve a bit of randomness as well, but they too are ultimately physical laws.

Answer 6

Easy, fear of rejection. It is the most common fear in all mankind, and you are born with it. You want and like everyone around you, and this gives you safety. But you know deep inside (in the nerve-system, not your mind) that when you start to decide, you also decide things away. What your unconscious mind, meaning you nerve-system, tells you when you need to decide, is that people might reject you if you do. "What if it is not correct", "what if i regret it", "what would xxx say", "how do I know that is correct?" "what if...." is normal things that show up. You do not miss anything in your brain, your brain is designed to co-operate with your nerve-system to keep you safe. Everyone has these impulses, and very rarely does anyone take responsibility to change them. If you feel it keeps you too safe, and that you are missing out, I recommend you to listen to some Tony Robbins recordings. Buy "Get the edge" for the short story or "Personal power 2" if you really want to take the big step (its like a month long, first one is a week). Remember to BUY it, downloading from piratebay is just wrong!

Answer 7

Man, I need a nap after all this brain talk.
I think I have a crazy brain and a rational brain
Thre crazy brain makes ALL the decisions
and the rational brain spends all it's time
trying to rationalize them. It's a team effort
And that's all I know about my brain

Answer 8

Any stimulus(a sight, a smell, a sound, a feeling or a reaction) could send impulses to the brain..that makes the brain to decide...Without a physical or emotional stimulus..there is no specific reaction..Positive or negative feedback mechanism.

Answer 9

This is a fallacy. One makes a decision because something in your environment needs changing. The 'consciousness' is in the fore brain

Answer 10

I've never actually thought about thinking and making decisions in this much....depth. I mean, logically...it makes sense and I wonder why I have never asked this question....but you definitely seem to be on to something with this though process. I applaud you, my friend, fellow lover of wisdom.