Posted: Jul 19, 08 7:38pm
I feel like I have a soul. And I think (in some "gestalt" sense) that I know what people mean when they talk about the sense people have that they posses a soul. But I don't think that I posses one, nor do I think that anyone possesses one.
I have a sense of awareness--sure. So does my dog, and my cats. My goldfish (when I had goldfish) not so much. I've known people who think that some old-fashoined text-based DOS games ("Adventure" or "Colossal Caves", as an example) had consciousness.
So do chimps, and apes; so do dolphins and whales (I assume).
But when our minds go--sorry, when our BRAINS go--so goes our self-awareness. It's a chemical process. It's a hell of a good chemical process, as far as chemical processes go. As much as I may like specific types of fermentation, it surely beats fermentation all to hell!
But that's all it is. Self awareness, the ability to plan, the ability to hold ideas in one's "mind," the ability to empathize with others, it's a survival trait. It's an accidental but wonderful product of evolution.
Jacquin...now you.
