It sounds to me like you have a simplistic understanding of what conservation of energy actually is. I don't believe it works in the way implied in your static rock theory. In my view, a living being does not comprise a closed system that exists in isolation. There are interactions and interchanges taking place all the time between an organism and its environment. An atom is a closed system; my digestive system is not. Neither is the excess weight I've gained over the last decade as my body grows older. The conservation of energy applies to the entire physical universe we inhabit, not the individual creatures that inhabit it.
An organic brain actually functions quite simply. It's just a mass of tissue composed of cells that transmit impulses through very basic chemical reactions. The complexity of a human brain or the brain of a whale arises with the number of cells present, and the number of connections those individual cells make with other neural cells. The different types of neural cells arise from their genetic components. As for the plasticity of functions, that's a matter of the individual cells involved doing their best to carry out their biological imperative. That imperative is to simply release the chemical messengers that the cell produces, and to do its best to make sure the impulse is headed along the correct vector without breaking the chain of transmission.
You're asking people to hand to you the knowledge that mankind has been seeking since consciousness first began inhabiting human bodies on this planet. On one level, the answer does not exist. There is no absolute ultimate knowledge concerning the nature of reality and the origins of life. Discovering that knowledge is the quest upon which we are all individually embarked. The answers are for you to discover for yourself. They can't be found in a text book or a religious manuscript. It's an experiential form of knowledge that only you can know for yourself.
You could start by asking yourself the question: "Am I conscious? Does consciousness inhabit this body I can see, and feel, and smell. If I stub my toe and feel pain, who, or what, is doing the feeling?"
I'll tell you a secret. It is, perhaps, the greatest mystery of all time. You are star stuff. The atoms and molecules that make up your body were literally born in the fiery heart of stars billions of years ago; stars that exploded, scattering those molecules across the vast reaches of space until they finally collected and congregated, and formed the body you now inhabit.
You and I are the universe made manifest, seeking to know and understand itself.
Well, I guess that may be a bit on the metaphysical side of things, but so is your original question.
Last edited:
