Never Mind the Brain

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

One person may admonish another to use his or her brain when thinking is desired, which is a common mistake. That is because the brain itself has no consciousness. The mind uses the brain. Look at this correct wording on Doctor Who between the Fourth Doctor and Harry Sullivan in "Ark in Space":

DOCTOR: You're improving, Harry.

HARRY: Am I really?

DOCTOR: Yes, your mind is beginning to work. It's entirely due my influence, of course. You mustn't take any credit.

Although searching for a place in the brain where consciousness (the soul) resides is a flaming inconsistency in their worldview, materialists (all that exists is matter, no God, no spirits) continue to search. The question is even worse for them when dealing with artificial intelligence.

Brain and consciousness, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann (Geralt)

Materialists cling to evolution to explain origins as a major part of their worldview. Creationists know that God created man in his image, and consciousness (the soul) came from him, not naturalistic processes. Yet, they know consciousness — which is clearly immaterial — exists.

At the Evolution News site, run by the Intelligent Design-focused Discovery Institute, Denyse O'Leary (who I don't think is a friend of biblical creation science) has been banging on a drum about a bet in several short articles. It was that consciousness would be located in the brain. After twenty-five years, neuroscientist Christof Koch lost the bet to professor of philosophy David Chalmers. O'Leary discussed this in "It’s Becoming Clearer that the Mind Is Not the Brain." In addition, an article about how the search will continue to seek the mind spot is at "Neuroscientist Vows: We’ll Nail Consciousness Yet!"

People who lack part of their brains through accidents, birth defects, or something else are still able to think and function. Indeed, some did not even know that portions were missing. Denyse wrote about this as well, and the left brain/right brain dictum is not all that accurate. This, too, supports how the brain and mind are separate things. This is at "How Can a Woman Missing Her Olfactory Bulbs Still Smell?" I am not going to make the obvious joke on the title.

While there are Christians and even some biblical creationists involved in the ID movement, they have worldview problems. One is that they generally leave God out of it and take a "neutral ground" approach. This essentially lets materialists call the shots when it comes to evidence, definitions, arguments, and more. When featuring material by ID advocates, I often supplement the theology and philosophy a bit in my introductions here.

David Coppedge, a creationist, writes for Evolution News but more often at Creation-Evolution Headlines. His work is featured here quite often. Anyway, he chimed in on the argument about consciousness using a better perspective.

Souls are conscious but the brain is not. It is no more aware of itself than a clock is aware of the concept of 8:39 a.m. Does a computer understand the program it is running? No; electrons are merely flowing through it directed by a mind.

Neuroscientist Christof Koch just paid up on a bet he lost. He bought philosopher David Chalmers a case of fine Portuguese wine, because twenty-five years ago, he bet Chalmers that “the mechanism by which the brain’s neurons produce consciousness would be discovered by 2023.” Focus on that key word “mechanism”—that is the issue. Is consciousness a mechanism performed by matter? Is it like a clock understanding 8:39 a.m. as the minute hand moves? Is a rock aware of rockness, or water aware of wetness? Is Koch’s gray matter aware of the moral rectitude of paying up on a lost bet after a quarter-century of time has elapsed?

I hope you'll read the rest at "The Brain Is Not Conscious," if y'all don't mind.