whats most believable??

[givememyleg]

everything is simply a very complex series of chemical reactions.

:head asplode:

this

maybe, but your body sure is good at tricking you then. i'm not completely convinced that my consciousness is made up of entirely chemical reactions in my brain.

first off, could it not be simply a mistake to think that you're hard to trick? check out the book or some lectures on Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. He's a scientist who deals a ton with how the brain works, and this book particularly goes into detail about exactly how amazingly easily our brains can be confused. its jaw dropping how inefficient human rationality is

saying that it's nothing but chemical reactions is somewhat misleading, but the truth is still in that there is no reason to believe that it's nothing but measurable activity.

human evolution has so profoundly given us this mega ego and imagination, and we're instilled with the tendency to believe in eternal and spiritual things even though there is zero reason to believe those things exist. it is actually counter-intuitive to think that we could be nothing but real physical processes, but the science in this area is becoming very determined this to be the case.

think of this very simple, yet easy to miss example. you get shot in the brain and you die. why? if consciousness is not a product of physical reactions in the brain then why have we never seen somebody lose their brain yet remain conscious?

im not as up to date as i'd like on brain stuff, but im pretty sure that brain scans show that every thought involves physical actions in the brain matter.

well then there's the theory that some form of consciousness, if possible to achieve, can survive death. but yes i agree that humans are completely irrational and easy to trick. it just doesn't seem like i should be though.