Philosophy / Science / Religion

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I'm not saying thought is not a physical reality. But I am saying it's a reality at least partially under control and guidance by a living entity. If we create or activate different chemicals to, say, choose bacon over asparagus - then perhaps it's just a matter of chicken and egg. And while thoughts can be (and certainly are) influenced by electricity or chemical additives, that's not the same as saying that ALL thoughts are so influenced.

A feedback loop does not imply something outside physical reality. Yes, a "thought" generated by the current state of the physical universe affects all future thoughts. But that thought was affected by all previous thoughts. And all of those previous thoughts were affected by all thoughts previous to them, etc. etc. etc. It's still the end result of an unfathomably complex succession of events that have taken place since the beginning of our universe. "The current state and current actions can affect future states and future actions" is not equivalent to "The current state is not the direct result of all previous states and actions." It's the corollary thereof.