On naturalism and consciousness

[FallentoReason]

Consciousness is an emergent property of the brain. Thoughts, beliefs and attitudes stem from the connections the neurons in your brain make after having an experience and consist of the flow of electrical charges in the brain. The brain is then capable of recalling past information by activating the same areas that were activated during the experience, thus creating memories.

Sure, but all we've ever been able to do is point to the parts of the brain responsible for certain aspects of our consciousness, such as the ones you've mentioned. But can you point to the area of the brain where you yourself exist, where your 'soul' resides?

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My opinion:

Consciousness is an illusionary side effect of the working of brains (and perhaps other things). I don't believe we have free will, I think we are just bound by the laws of physics. There's nothing different about us to anything else that makes us somehow able to "choose" when no one would claim that our individual atoms/quarks/whatever are actually making choices. (At least I don't think they would.)

My only "evidence" for this is that I feel more and more like an observer to myself. I don't take credit for what most of my body does, nor even most of what the brain does. I think the last little bit in the brain that seems like it's making choices is where all this comes in, but it's not real. I feel as if I am watching myself make choices, seeing what I will say next.

The fact that consciousness seems so real makes this hard to swallow, but it's my best guess for now pending more evidence.

I'm not so sure that determinism plays a role here. For all we know, we could be brains in a vacuum experiencing an already determined universe. It still doesn't take away from the fact that consciousness isn't something produced by said universe.