Atheism and Purpose

[Edward the Theist]

Neurologists can tell you, to some extent, what parts of the brain go out of whack when you become unconscious and what parts are active when you are conscious. I would say they are leaps and bounds ahead of you and me in regard to that little nugget.

No, they're leaps ahead of you on that. For instance, you don't seem to realize that an MRI tech can tell you the same thing. What neither of them can tell you is whether or not an injured brain has stopped producing consciousness or has stopped being able to use consciousness.

I fell once while ice climbing and was knocked unconscious. All I saw during that time was a green light. So, was I unconscious? When people die in the ICU they become like furniture. One time I talked to a dead person for about thirty seconds before I realized they were dead. Now, that's unconscious! An EEG for that person would've been flat, absolutely. But it still wouldn't answer the question as to what comes first: Does consciousness need a working brain to be obvious to the rest of us, or does consciousness arise from a working brain? Honestly, I don't think neurologists are even the people to answer this question; I think ultimately cosmologists will.

I don't need to read any crackpot theories about consciousness. I have read enough crackpot theories, thank you very much. Furthermore, it is only contested because people like you cannot accept that consciousness is not some sort of spiritual thing. It just will not register with you, no matter how many facts are thrown at you.

Ah, I see. You're like a redneck atheist. You don't need no dang crackpot theories about consciousness! On MSNBC they got them there celebrity neurologists who say all I need to hear, by god...by matter.

Um, do you just spout off whatever comes to your mind? Prove that physics is almost dead as a science. In fact, why don't you show me how many schools offer consciousness as a major as opposed to physics? As far as that last bit there, tell that to NASA.

Did you just say NASA? Heehee. QED I think. Talk about dead physics. All the physics NASA needs has already been formulated. I know, I know, you think we're going to seed other planets with humans. The great atheist hope. Call this a prophecy if you like, but this is what I think: we are going to die out, and civilization will definitely die out, long before we are ever able to escape our solar system, and we can't live anywhere but earth. We could have gone to Mars 30 years ago. We already have that technology. But there's no point. There's no point in even going to the moon again.

It's not because we're not ready for it. Furthermore, consciousness is discussed by 'normal' people all the time. I'm sorry that your life is that meaningless. Honestly.

Ah, but my life isn't meaningless. I'm a medical professional, and I care for people in the course of my job three days a week, and when I'm not doing that, I think I really have a new cosmology that I am working on. It keeps me constantly interested in higher mathematics and cutting edge research on consciousness--the next frontier. If I didn't have that it would be meaningless. How 'bout you?

Oh, and I might as well add (I mean when talking to a religious atheist fundamentalist, what difference could it make?): I believe God, my Father, has given it all to me.