RE: 3 simple points to end the discussion with any atheist
September 25, 2018 at 3:57 am
(This post was last modified: September 25, 2018 at 3:59 am by I_am_not_mafia.)
(September 25, 2018 at 1:43 am)AtlasS33 Wrote: 3-Why do we have consciousness?
Because we evolved as pack animals that have to co-ordinate our actions with others. This means being able to predict the actions of others and work alongside them. This requires a sense of self.
Actually even non-pack animals benefit from conscious for much the same reasons. It is easier to predict the action of your prey if you can imagine being in the same situation. This is far more flexible than evolving a response to every possible situation.
It also serves as a check and balance on the current behaviour being employed.
Consciousness improves the evolutionary fitness of the species.
That's not to say that we are always conscious of our actions though. Emotions and instinct work as a counter balance. Cognition widens the range of possible behaviours that an agent may use, while emotion and instinct narrows them to strategies favoured by evolution. Thus people can have emotional reactions without understanding why. Consciousness helps them spot when this balancing act isn't working so well.
