The God Hypothesis

If God is the Universe as a whole, then it seems to me that Quantum Mechanics is on the exact opposite side of the continuum of things we should be looking into.Its like trying to appreciate the Mona Lisa by investigating how the molecules in the pigments are interacting. That doesn't make any sense to me at all.Also, why even call it "God"?

Most of the time my body does what I will it to do, but occasionally it reacts on its own without any willingness on my mind's part. It makes it feel like there's a seperation between the me that is in my head and the body that its attached to.

But the Universe is not aware. Some tiny specs of it are, ie humans, but that requires having a brain. The Universe doesn't have a brain. Why should I think that the Universe is either sentient or living? And what observations are you talking about? Sorry, but that's just a meaningless word salad. It makes no sense. How do you know that? How do you know that the hard problem of consciousness can't be solved?

Actually I was including reflex reactions, but that's just one part of it. You're right, I'm not talking about that at all. Sure.We're all sitting around passing the bong. "Hey, I need a lighter", I say. Jimbo throws one really hard right past me. Before I even realize what's happening, my arm springs and my hand flies out and grabs it out right of the air. "Whoa, you're a Jedi", Jimbo jokes. "Yeah, that was weird", I realize.I'm playing the piano, even though I know which notes are to be played, and I'm willing my hands to play them, sometimes my fingers just won't do what I'm commanding them to. Other times, I'm approaching a particularly difficult part of a song, and my fingers just nail it. "I don't know how the hell I just made it through that part without messing up", I'll think to myself in amazement.I notice I'm out of bread so I get in the car to go to the store. Then I start thinking about what other things I might need from the store. I get into pretty deep thought and then I realize that I've already driven half-way to work. Thinking back I don't even recall making specific turns, did I even use the blinker, holy shit who was driving this thing?Or how about when your leg cramps up and your all: "OMG, stop! STAHP!" (Hrm, does your leg receive a signal from the brain to contract the muscle when it cramps up like that? Or is that the muscle going haywire or something?)Or when you have a twitch, or some shakes, or you flinch.Here's a good one: You are now breathing manually.When its involuntary you don't even think about it. Its outside of your mind. Then when it enters your mind, you have to take control of your body yourself.

Well, it does tie into the awareness thing that OP mentioned in Message 16 (that this string stems from). So I'm going with it. So I've been reading, turns out I'm way out of my league... but that's never stopped me before.Anyways, before reading, I was under the impression that the brain pretty much controls everything. I'd forgotten that the spinal cord is a pretty big part of the brain-system. I suppose you already know this stuff, but I've still got the tabs open and I think the lurkers can benefit. The old doctor-hitting-your-knee thing, that's the Patellar reflex, and you're right that it all happens in the spinal cord: click to enlargeWhat else that I found particularly interesting, was that the Patellar reflex occurs all the way down in the yellow section, around the L2 - L4 vertebrae. So yeah, its not even really all that close to the brain at all! No wonder the brain finds out later. I can see how that could be more of a chemistry problem than a biological one, so that doesn't really tie into the awareness aspect. Ringo said that your body IS you. I tend to think the other way. The "me" that I am is the conscious, sentient, part of the mind. And its begins to look like it has been distanced from the body. That actually adds-up, to me. If we look at some of the "dumber" animals, they seem to be going about just fine despite not having much in the way of sentience and consciousness. The levels of those things that we enjoy are plagued by, is a recent development in evolutionary history. It makes sense that they'd be an additional, or after-the-fact, kind of phenomenon.Our senetience is an emergent property. The hard problem of consciousness kinda goes away a bit if you look at yourself from the other side. Rather than being the sentient portion of your mind, that happens to have this body that it is controlling, you're just another robot-like animal that has developed a level of sentience that, upon reflection, just seems to be distinct from the rest of the body. But really, the body is what you are, and the mind is something that develops within it. Without the "you-that-is-in-your-mind", you would still function as an ape bumbling around looking for food and mates. Its only after you self-reflect, that there seems to be some problem between the "you-that-is-in-your-mind" and the body that it only superficially seems to be in control of. But really, you are your body, and your mind is only an afterthought.Edited by Catholic Scientist, : No reason given.