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We don't have a single mind, we have a series of fabulator modules

By pharyngula on September 22, 2010.

Everyone should read this very good, very clear article in Seed magazine. It stomps on the concept of a soul from the perspective of modern neuroscience.

The evidence supports another view: Our brains create an illusion of unity and control where there really isn't any. Within the wide range of works arranged along the axis of soulism, from Life After Death: The Evidence, by Dinesh D'Souza, to Absence of Mind, by Marilynne Robinson, it is clear there is very little understanding of the brain. In fact, to advance their ideas, these authors have to be almost completely unaware of neurology and neuroscience. For example, Robinson tells us, "Our religious traditions give us as the name of God two deeply mysterious words, one deeply mysterious utterance: I AM." The translation might be, "indoctrination tells us we have a soul, it feels like we are a unified little god in control of our bodies, so we are."

It's all illusions, all the way through.

Tags
neurobiology

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