So, I started some comments over here:
http://www.agnosticforums.com/bible/....html#post3275
What I was saying is that the brain is 100 billion neurons with 100 trillion connections between one another. And that since this machine is so immensely complicated, and because our perception is normally not designed to comprehend this level of complexity, that we've developed a social concept called free will that we use to regulate our community. If we didn't use the concept, no one would be responsible for their actions. But then, we wouldn't associate concepts of good/evil with anyone either.
The hindus have had this concept for a LONG time and it's expressed in "Indra's Jeweled Net" which described in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Quote:
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FAR AWAY IN THE HEAVENLY ABODE OF THE GREAT GOD INDRA, THERE IS A WONDERFUL NET WHICH HAS BEEN HUNG BY SOME CUNNING ARTIFICER IN SUCH A MANNER THAT IT STRETCHES OUT INDEFINITELY IN ALL DIRECTIONS. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE EXTRAVAGANT TASTES OF DEITIES, THE ARTIFICER HAS HUNG A SINGLE GLITTERING JEWEL AT THE NET'S EVERY NODE, AND SINCE THE NET ITSELF IS INFINITE IN DIMENSION, THE JEWELS ARE INFINITE IN NUMBER. THERE HANG THE JEWELS, GLITTERING LIKE STARS OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE, A WONDERFUL SIGHT TO BEHOLD. IF WE NOW ARBITRARILY SELECT ONE OF THESE JEWELS FOR INSPECTION AND LOOK CLOSELY AT IT, WE WILL DISCOVER THAT IN ITS POLISHED SURFACE THERE ARE REFLECTED ALL THE OTHER JEWELS IN THE NET, INFINITE IN NUMBER. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT EACH OF THE JEWELS REFLECTED IN THIS ONE JEWEL IS ALSO REFLECTING ALL THE OTHER JEWELS, SO THAT THE PROCESS OF REFLECTION IS INFINITE
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Graphic of indra's net made in a ray tracing program:
http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.c.../indrasNet.jpg
This fits with what science observes of every particle in the universe. The forces that govern their behavior stretch to infinity in all directions and (though it's miniscule) every particle in the universe effects every other particle. Reflected in every atom is the entire universe, so to speak. A relatively easy concept to grasp in this field is gravitation. It's effects scale as the inverse of the distance between matter squared. With no limit.
The reality of the brain is that all of your experience, personality, "Choices," personal control, emotions, memories get processed through this immensely complex network of neurons which are each, themselves extremely complex mathematical units with multiple components. Any neuroscientist will tell you this. Any neurosurgeon will be able to map out parts of your brain. Applying a little current stimulus here or there in your brain will cause all manner of things to occur in your body.
The brain is the physical part of your body that controls everything. All of your concepts reside here. Some people get tumors and must have sections of their brain removed and the resulting loss in personality or memories is dramatic and total because they reside in the structure of a physical network.
Chemicals can be applied to the brain through oral or other applications that can dramatically change your behavior (see a simple example in diphenhydramine which is the basis for benadryl and prozak). Psychotic drugs and whatnot dramatically modify people's behaviors.
Bottom line is that the only difference between you and me and a rock is a level of complexity, not of anything supernatural.
The problem is one of understanding the nature of complex systems. And the bizarre thing we get to experience is consciousness. What does it mean to emerge as consciousness out of an extremely complex pattern of molecules? What is consciousness in this case? Is it proportional to complexity? Does it occur like a state transition like how at 100 degrees C, liquid water all of a sudden becomes vapor?
Anyway, these are the questions that most interest me. It's hard to reconcile my existence and sense of self with the reality I know as a neuroscientist that every act I commit is a complex confluence of events based on the structure of my nervous system that was set down during development in the womb and which has been modified since then based on my sensory inputs (experiences).
The science of emergent properties of complex systems is something we're just being able to begin to address given our understanding of science and the machines we've created capable of handling these questions in a different way than we are.
One of my goals in life is to create a computer that is either hardware or virtual simulation of a complex system akin to the human brain that may interface with the world in certain ways and is indistinguishable from life as we know it. An emergent consciousness, so to speak. This goal is considered by many to be definitely attainable in this century (most of our lifetimes).
How does this concept strike you? Do you feel violently against the concept of no choice? Realize that the socially applied concept of free will still must apply for our society to remain stable at the current moment.
But personally, it's through this scientific understanding and search that I "defeat sin" as it was in the garden of eden. The pairs of opposites of good/evil, life/death, male/female, ego. I see them now as simply socially applied concepts. It is not a fact of existence. Nature simply is. This understanding is where my sense of enlightenment (like that of the buddha or of christ) comes from. For me, the kingdom of heaven is here right now and the veil of free will is what separates us from it so that most people don't see it.
My main research work is on model systems such as flies and other invertebrates with remarkable complex yet much simpler nervous systems than ours. It's remarkable how identical these systems are to other complex systems I've dealt with in the field of electrical engineering with adaptive feedback control systems and such.