I am therefore I think

I sometimes get the impression that my brain has a mind of its own.

I mean, thoughts pop in to my head and I don't know where they come from. I can never remember the actual instant I fell asleep.(I tried to watch myself fall asleep for a month. I stopped because it had weird consequences, I began to dream I was awake and at least once missed a lecture I had to give because I thought I was actually giving it when I was, in fact, in bed, asleep)

But getting back to the point. My brain has a mind of its own. And so does yours. And What is more I have proof. I just finished reading a Vilanayur Ramachandrans book on neuroscience
for those not in the know, Vilanayur is one of India's greatest minds and has used his unique insight into the workings of the mind to find cures for at least two brain damage related disorders. and is one of the top 100 living intellectuals

Vilanayurs book, details a fascinating experiment. where he sits a person down in a dark room and tells him to press a button during the next minute whenever he feels like it. without any preconceived time, the person has to just press the button when the thought pops into his head. While doing this his neural patterns are being monitored and a few seconds before he thinks his thought( and presses the button) The researcher can predict its coming.

Did that sink in? The researcher knows what you re going to think before you think it. In fact the "subconscious", a fancy word for the strange parts of the brain you aren't aware of, decided for you a long time ( a few whole seconds) before you became aware of the decision.

To quote Ramachandran, perhaps badly, ' the conscious experience is just a post facto explanation imposed by the brain on a subconscious mechanism'

In other words, your subconscious thinks, then your conscious mind(the 'person' you refer to as "you") is told what has happened. And all along even a neuroscientist can tell you before hand whats going to happen.

we are robots programmed to think we can think. What is more there are good reasons to believe that this has an evolutionary advantage. conscious beings, who think they are in control, have more reason to survive. With consciousness , perhaps, comes a stronger survival instinct and the ability to plan for the future.

Is that cool or is that cool? actually its a little scary. It means I am not me, my subconcious is me, I am just...wait a minute...what am I

The lady of perpetual motion has just taken another step and what a step it is