How Did We Learn to Say "I?"
Jul 08, 2008
Somewhere along the way, humans, alone among all living creatures, discovered themselves. Somewhere along the way, humans began to use "I." In other words, they became self-aware, cognizant of the fact that they existed, aware of their feelings and their personality. Could evolution have produced such a change, a change from uncreated, non-personal matter into gregarious, personal, humans who are aware of their own personhood? Could evolution have built the framework by which we attain distinction from all other living beings?
Converted atheist Antony Flew writes, "We are conscious and conscious that we are conscious. No one can deny this without self-contradiction." Although ‘consciousness' is associated with certain regions of the brain, when the same systems of neurons are present in the brain stem there is no ‘production' of consciousness. As physicist Gerald Schroeder points out, there is no essential difference in the ultimate physical constituents of a heap of sand and the brain of an Einstein. Flew concludes, "Only blind and baseless faith in matter lies behind the claim that certain bits of matter can suddenly ‘create' a new reality that bears no resemblance to matter." Self-awareness is a nearly impossible threshold to cross under the auspices of natural selection, for how could the impersonal forces of trait selection lead to an evolution of consciousness and self-awareness? How could the impersonal lead to personality and the recognition of personal awareness? Even the most vociferous atheists, Steve Pinker and Richard Dawkins, after laying out the problem thoughtfully (even if reluctantly) admit they just don't know. To quote Dawkins, it "Beats the heck out of me." Steve Pinker writes, "The existence of subjective first-person experience is not explainable by science."
Maybe it's not intended to be explained by science? It seems to me that personal beings (such as us) are much more likely to be the result (or creation!) of a personal God who creates people in His image than the result of impersonal forces that blindly direct toward reproduction alone. Actually, it's hard to see how self-consciousness could be produced by evolution since evolution's only goal is reproduction. Self-consciousness would be a hindrance to reproduction rather than a help because it creates a need in humans for relationship. This means that we rarely have reproduction without relationship. Thus, for reproduction to take place, it requires a tangled web of emotional involvement as a precursor to a sexual relationship. Of course there is casual sex but almost none of it is intended for procreation (though some inevitably leads there). The point is that other animals are free to have sex without entangling emotional attachments, making it hard to see how evolution created something outside itself that would actually inhibit it's only goal-reproduction!