If someone says to me "consciousness, therefore god", what's the best way to respond?

[Kiekeben]

Actually, what we know about consciousness makes for a very strong argument against the existence of God. Every consciousness we know of requires matter in order to exist. Thus, we have every reason to stipulate that consciousness cannot exist without matter. And what is God? He's an immaterial consciousness - something we have good reason to believe cannot exist.

[Silver]

Clearly, consciousness created god.

Theists are so dumb, they want to ignore logic for their own stupidity.

[Angrboda]

Free will is a messed up concept. Who exactly would be making the decision? A "person" is just a conveniently abstract way of describing a bunch of stuff stuck together. And not even the same stuff; it's constantly replacing itself with other bits.

The brain is similarly a massive complex machine. There is no one part in charge, the whole thing decides together. The idea of a "self" is another illusion, in my opinion.

It must take a lot of cognitive dissonance daily deciding what to do with your life and then denying your own identity and volition.

Wow. Who pissed in your Wheaties?

[The Grand Nudger]

Who denies their identity or volition?  I see people -reasonably- applying skepticism to the accuracy of their personal experience of either.  It;s not as though we've never mistaken one -actual- thing for another -non-existent- thing before....

[Mystic]

Free will is a messed up concept. Who exactly would be making the decision? A "person" is just a conveniently abstract way of describing a bunch of stuff stuck together. And not even the same stuff; it's constantly replacing itself with other bits.

The brain is similarly a massive complex machine. There is no one part in charge, the whole thing decides together. The idea of a "self" is another illusion, in my opinion.

It must take a lot of cognitive dissonance daily deciding what to do with your life and then denying your own identity and volition.

+1

[Pat Mustard]

It must take a lot of cognitive dissonance daily deciding what to do with your life and then denying your own identity and volition.

+1

Good to see you being consistent, supporting nonsensical rubbish whenever you see it.

[The Atheist]

I'm pretty sure claiming "consciousness, therefore god" is an argument from ignorance, but I'm not sure that's the best way to respond. I know there must be a proper name for this argument but I either can't remember what that name is, or I've not heard the name used before. I've personally mainly been tackling the biological and psychical (e.g. astronomy/cosmology) arguments against religion. I find biology and physics more interesting and, as a result, I feel as though I've neglected the psychological side of things.

A religionist may say "How did we get from clumps of sub-atomic particles/atoms/cells to being conscious?" That would be where the "argument from ignorance" comes in. But I think that's too simplistic an answer. Or maybe I'm over thinking this.

Perhaps it is just best to say "I don't know" in relation to consciousness. Just like the only honest answer to the creation of our universe is "I don't know" (because it's arrogant to claim otherwise). I'll be interested to see how consciousness affects the many-worlds interpretation (if it is proven), but that's something we're far away from learning about right now.

Some context:

I needed a good laugh to cheer me up, so I went looking for more "I'm totally not an Islamist but I used to be a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir and I'm reluctant to condemn them" Hamza Tzortis - something I do from time to time (though less often now). His newest video, "I Am an Atheist" proves God!, was very confusing and incoherent but it at least got me thinking about consciousness. The video was full of jargon and doublespeak (which I am sure his cheer-squad don't understand either, even though they may pretend otherwise) and it made very little sense to me as a result - so I suggest not watching it. N.B. Hamza claims this argument is not "god of the gaps" but I'm pretty sure it is because it relies on us not fully understanding consciousness.

"Consciousness, therefore Zeus."

Then put on your sunglasses and walk away.