Week 5

Our culture over the last 2,000 years and beyond has led us to believe our souls live on after life and to do this our bodies and "minds" must be separate beings. Most believe this because that is how is was explained to them by their religion, or maybe they believe it because it is easier than facing a completely physical world. Is is true that if our universe is completely physical, God and other supernatural beings cannot exist? No, I do not believe that is true. However, I am not quite ready to answer the question of how, exactly, God is possible in any universe (dualist or physical). The more we learn about our world and our own bodies, the more a physical approach makes sense. Every action, every thought, every desire can be explained by brain waves, hormones, or basic survival instincts. Every supposed "non-physical event" can be explained by an extremely physical function. This will just become more apparent in the coming years. 

We, as a society, have transformed in just a few hundred years. Transformed from what was a suspicious, almost ignorant, way of living to a open-minded, liberal perspective on topics such as science, religion, and the unexplained. Just imagine for me briefly: if we could make such progress from then until now, imagine the exponential gain in knowledge we will have in the next hundred years. By the time 2100 rolls around, it will be impossible to deny a physical world.

One may ask: how do you explain that fact that our mental life is nothing like the physical world? For example, our consciousness.

I am a firm believer in evolution and I found it interesting that it is completely ignored in this section of my reading. We have a stream of consciousness because over the years we have learned that certain things can harm us. Humans have seen what bad behaviors and actions can lead to, so we have learned to avoid them. The key word being learned. Our brains have become extremely advanced tools and, if given the proper knowledge, we can teach our minds anything.


SIDENOTE: When reading about eliminativism, I couldn't help but think of Spock from Star Trek. Yes, Spock. Eliminativists, much like Vulcans, think our beliefs, wants, and desires are just psychological states that can be reduced to a biological level. They would say: our "emotions" are similar to folklore and are doing us more damage than good. It sounds crazy, but I could see our scientists having a similar viewpoint in just a matter of years. Just a weird, nerdy correlation I picked up.