Above all I think of myself as a scientist. Not a good enough scientist, true, but a scientist nevertheless, by training and by practice. Economics, which I practice, is, to me, the science of choice (and scarcity) in human society. I spurn any alleged "economics" that is not based on well tested foundations. That is why Keynesian and "socialist" "economics" is, to me, a form of quackery, pure alchemy: to be shunned like the plague.

Everything in the world has an explanation, a cause.

Nothing – not even the "soul" – exists without physical causes. (I have never believed in a "soul". Although I am unable to eliminate the possibility of God – possibly an Advaitic, i.e. broadly pantheistic – "God", the concept of a private soul is clearly a delusion.)

I draw all causes (including human actions) from the first cause (big bang). Unfortunately, the science of the big bang is not as robust as one would have liked it to be. It doesn't entirely explain the way the universe is behaving. Hence dark matter, dark energy, dark flow. But the standard cosmic model is good enough as a first approximation. From it arises everything we know. (There are many plausible models re: whence the big bang came from, and I'm inclined to the infinity of universes concept since energy can't be created nor destroyed.)

This leads to the issue of vacuum. The entire universe is pure vacuum. In the vacuum found inside each atom, a tiny amount of energy courses at great speed – almost certainly at speeds greater than the speed of light: eternally, without pause, captured like a moth in a bottle, inside a tiny spherical distortion of space (this "sphere" is, of course, a gross simplification, given the properties of the quantum). 

So if we are merely vacuum and energy "hooked up" through chemical processes, what can we say about the "soul" or "self"? The Atman?

Well, it too must be mere mechanics, a play of energy, a bunch of atoms dancing in inter-connected ways.

I've ALWAYS thought that human consciousness is ENTIRELY biological, based on the brain. When parts of the brain stop functioning, key parts of our mind/consciousness stop working. Our soul is snipped. We don't exist even though we live. (I've discussed the human brain at some length in the first chapter of DOF, for I believe that without understanding ourselves, we can't understand society.)

Neurology has thrown up wonderful discoveries in the field of psychology and economics. We are truly blessed to be living in these times, as science shines its torch below each rock of ignorance.

The title of this blog post has been motivated by V. S. Ramachandran's The Tell-Tale Brain.

I've read this marvellous book just recently, and I must say it is a thriller. A thriller more exciting than any novel you'll ever read. 

Most of you would have read this book by now, it being so popular. But if by chance you haven't yet read it, please do so. 

You'll NEVER think about the soul as a "spiritual" entity, ever again.

Each part of the soul ("self") can be broken down into parts, and we now clearly know that our BRAIN is the soul. 

I look forward to the complete dissection of the human soul (self) in the coming decades. 

Related posts:

1. A physics Nobel laureate now says that climate change is pseudoscience
2. Why does energy “travel” in “circles” inside an atom?
3. May Verghese Kurien’s soul rest in peace. Let me recount my meeting with him.
4. A pleasant morning “with” Daniel Kahneman
5. Do Indians have lazy thinking habits (more System 1, less System 2)?
6. Poetry, spiritualism and other pleasant self-delusions
7. The biological basis of classical liberalism
8. The (hand-picked) fools who advise Obama
9. Yes, certain forms of energy ALMOST CERTAINLY travel faster than the speed of light
10. Do not worship false Gods – such worship is fatal!