5 ms·
My view is your existence doesn't spring from nothing, it springs from atoms that your mother ate, and that somehow agglutinate to form a body that hosts your b
by d--b 5y ago
My view is your existence doesn't spring from nothing, it springs from atoms that your mother ate, and that somehow agglutinate to form a body that hosts your brain, which in turn creates an illusion of consciousness that calls itself 'I', and that we call 'you'.
The atoms in your body and near it seem to conspire to keep this illusion of consciousness alive for a while, but then at some point the whole thing falls apart for some reason, and the illusion of consciousness disappears.
That illusion of consciousness corresponds for any given day to the particular arrangement of atoms in your body and near it (so that, if you had a machine which could exactly replicate the arrangement of atoms that constitute your self, then, you'd be able to completely clone yourself, a sort of second birth, if you will).
Anyways, call me a materialist.
- Trasmatta 5y agoI can see the "self" being an illusion, but I don't understand how consciousness can be an illusion. Isn't it the only thing that we could concretely say isn't illusory? Since a sense of self and consciousness aren't the same thing, as your "self" can melt away through meditation or drugs, but consciousness remains. (I'm also a materialist, I just don't quite understand how that means consciousness is illusory.)
- ryandvm 5y agoIndeed. Consciousness itself is quite real (mine is anyway). It's the experience and awareness of my place in this simulation of the world that my meat-based computer is running. Turn off my simulation (sleep, anestesia, death) and consciousness goes away.