Reply to comment

I thought the discussion about consciousness we had in class was really interesting.  In writing papers over the years i've always made the generalization that -people like to believe they have free will or consciousness or some sort of over-arching control.  However i'd never really thought about how i felt regarding this subject.  I realized that i'm not sure it's important that we have some sort of control over our nervous system/bodily functions.  Having consciousness (or my perception of it) is great, but i'm sure i'd get along just fine and would still have a rewarding (though different) life if i didn't have it.

 On the topic of consciousess it is also interesting to think of our experiences of consciousness as subjective.  It is a strange concept to realize that we only "know" that other people have consciousness because we do, and we believe that others experience as we do.  It's kind of like the concept of sensory perception (and or synesthesia)-how we can only guess that our perceptions of colors, tastes and touch are the same as those around us.