The truth is in the details

[Email sent to Catalunya Ràdio on 30/10/2008 - Domestic Issues]

For me, consciousness does not exist.

Consciousness is generated thanks to a good memory system that allows us to store and recall lived experiences, and a good analytical system on those memories. Without a good memory system, we would be incapable of being conscious, as we could not analyze anything; every day we would start from zero, like a newborn.

And without a good analytical system we would also be incapable of being conscious, because we would have so much information but would be unable to manage it or try to understand it.

We could give a very simple example: a car, when it is running, gains speed, but speed itself does not exist. We cannot find any piece in the engine that can be called speed; speed is produced by a combination of properties such as fuel, wheels, axles, the engine… I believe that consciousness is the same.

In fact, consciousness is one of the main causes that makes it hard for us to accept death. We cannot easily accept that, if we are here now, in the future we will cease to be here. Many people think that their self will never die, that it must go somewhere. How can it be that my self ceases to exist? This reasoning is yet another product of our fear of the unknown, of death.

Our brain is not prepared to accept this.

How was it possible that before we were born our consciousness did not exist? That is, the Earth has existed for millions and millions of years without us, and yet we cannot accept that it could continue for many more years without us? And the option of believing that our consciousness already existed before we were born is even less substantiated, and in fact it doesn’t even matter, since if we are not capable of remembering anything from the previous consciousness—since we were born without any previous knowledge (remember we all learned to speak, to think, to walk…)—then it is not worth taking into account.

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[Fragment adapted from a much longer piece on the existence of God]