Human Consciousness From Chemical Arrangements? Consciousness is defined by the Webster dictionary as the quality or state of being aware, especially of something within oneself. Dictionary.com further defines consciousness as an awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc. A good way to conceptualize consciousness is to compare human conscious thought with the way that an "unconscious" computer processes data... For example, a computer doesn't know what is "true" any more than a rock knows what is "false". It cannot reason about its own "thoughts" and determine whether they're valid. If we program a computer to generate falsehoods, that's exactly what it will do, with absolutely no self awareness that it is essentially "lying" to users. And if we program the same computer to call those falsehoods "true", that again is exactly what it will do - while remaining entirely unaware. A computer will never correct its own programmer in contradiction with the software that it's running. A computer therefore has no free will. ...Obviously, human thought is very different. We're able to distinguish between truth and falsehood, we can reason, we have an awareness of self, and we have free will; we are conscious, and computers are not. Information Arrangements... A computer ultimately functions in sole accordance with a specific, intelligent arrangement of sequential characters (0's and 1's), known as Binary code... "A Binary code is a way of representing text or computer processor instructions by the use of the binary number system's two-binary digits 0 and 1. This is accomplished by assigning a bit string to each particular symbol or instruction. For example, a binary string of eight binary digits (bits) can represent any of 256 possible values and can therefore correspond to a variety of different symbols, letters or instructions." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_code Therefore, what we find is that a sequential arrangement of characters, despite being information derived from intelligence, does not enable things like truth, reason, self awareness, or free will. Nor can a computer formulate beliefs or have feelings. ...In other words, computers are not capable of counsciousness despite sophisticated Binary code. Now, consider that human DNA code, like binary code, is also a specific arrangement of sequential characters... "The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people. The order, or sequence, of these bases determines the information available for building and maintaining an organism, similar to the way in which letters of the alphabet appear in a certain order to form words and sentences." Source: http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/dna In the case of both Binary code and DNA code, we observe that information arrangements control what a "machine" does, whether it be an inorganic machine (computer hardware) or a biological machine (organism). In other words, the same process is being used in both instances. So The Question Is This... Why would a DNA arrangement enable consciousness, when a Binary arrangement cannot? One might suggest that it is the "chemical difference" (between DNA and Binary information arrangements) which somehow enables consciousness. However... The chemicals in DNA are simply a type of matter, in the same way that a piece of chicken meat (protein) is matter. More specifically, it is the sequence of chemical bases in DNA which build protein matter... And matter, in and of itself (whether a protein or a rock), is obviously incapable of being self aware, having feelings, etc. ...So this brings us right back to the arrangement of chemicals, as represented by characters A, G, C and T; and we've already shown with Binary code that information arrangements, although of intelligent origin, are not sufficient to produce consciousness. It is a classic, "You can't get there from here!", dilemma. Human Consciousness Explained... Based on these observations, I believe that consciousness is part of what gives human beings life... According to the Bible, Adam was dead flesh until the moment that God breathed the breath of life into his physical body... Indeed, Adam had a physical brain and body, but did not come to life until the moment when God breathed into his nostrils... It is at that moment that Adam gained consciousness. He was immediately self aware, able to determine truth from falsehood, able to reason (via logical thought processes), and able to exercise free will. Human consciousness is incompatible with the Darwinian worldview. If our thoughts were the product of nothing more than information arrangements (like Binary code), we would be no better than powerful computers - unable to actually think for ourselves at all... Sure, we'd be able to go around and collect data from the world around us. And we'd be able to "react" to that data according to however our brains are wired. But we wouldn't truly be able to think about the data: We'd be unable formulate beliefs about the data, or reason over the data, or make free will decisions in response to the data, etc. Instead, we'd behave like "good little robots" according to our wiring. ...But clearly, this is not how we think. Consciousness is a reality. And it's something that is easily and logically accounted for, according to the Biblical worldview. What About Drugs That Are Said To Alter States Of Consciousness? In mind and body dualism it is somewhat appropriate to think of the material brain as a computer of sorts, and the immaterial mind (part of the soul or spirt) as the "real, conscious us" sitting behind the computer. If we do something which affects the computer, the "output" could become skewed depending on how material brain and immaterial mind intertwine... The mind interprets input from the 5 senses, emotions, etc., and if the 5 senses are distorted due to drugs, a distorted interpretation will follow. In this respect, the physical body and brain is a conduit that enables the mind to "have thought". Click here for more!