Are we really in control?

In my (or my brain's) attempt to manage the endless chaos of life, this blog posting conveniently "slipped my mind". After a dutiful bout of self-criticism, I've been left with the following things to think about.

-Are we in control of mediating the chaos of life? To go even further, are we in control of our reactions, thoughts, words, feelings, actions, etc.?

-Why is it that the brain can keep a body functioning nominally while the "self" (whatever that may be...the "ghost" in my head, perhaps) can forget / displace the need to mediate social requirements like this assignment?

-Is it accurate to make a distinction between the mind and body? Is there one to be made, even?

Of course, I'll take the epistemological high ground and argue that "I don't know" should be the sufficient answer to all the questions above. If anyone ends up reading this late post, hopefully they'll want to debate over the warrants.

Otherwise, I'm here to argue that when approaching these complex, scientific/philosophic questions, it is best to assume we know nothing about what we're approaching so that we may hope to avoid alternative methodologies of inquiry - like this blog. If we classify various phenomena into closed sets of "known" and "unknown", we will necessarily be replicating the problematic idea of scientific "finitude". So instead, I say let's place knowledge into a new category in between the known and unknown, and leave it at that. Knowledge can be read as a spectrum with no definite beginning or end.

Beyond any moral justifications for an epistemology of "I don't know", I wish to justify it also with a concept from neuroscience that was explained to me by my girlfriend. It made me second-guess not only the idea of "knowing", but of "consciousness" as well.

"The Readiness Potential". (I included the wikipedia link for quick reading) Ultimately, the readiness potential is a signal that is sent inside your brain (or, remember, your "self") that precedes conscious awareness of it being sent. Generally speaking, your brain is sending signals that you aren't aware of. Sounds obvious, right? We have a brain stem that manages the more perfunctory tasks of managing a fleshbag - you must keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the temperature at a steady whatever...etc. - But how about this: Remember that time you decided to call your friends to see a movie - were you ACTUALLY in control of that decision? Or how about your desire to go eat Taco Bell instead of Taco John's? etc. etc.

A more personal example: By the time I took the action to make this blog post, a potential in my brain had already preceded my conscious awareness of the fact, and then in some sort of "eureka!" moment, I, (or my "self) became consciously aware that not only do I have a blog post to make, but that my blog post is late! I then made this blog post. I assumed that it was in my rational, conscious desires, but it in fact it originated from my subconscious.

This of course obliterates, or in a more formal tone, completely inverts the concept of conscious awareness in that if our desires and actions are guided by brain activity that we can't ever be consciously aware of, what are we to say about free will? And to tie it into my argument above, how are we to ever "know" that we "know" something if we can't maintain an active conception of "free will"? Is embodiment of "knowledge" even within our willful grasp? If our brain is subconsciously calling the shots - let's say the desire to learn more about a particular phenomena, does that mean we don't know "enough" about it? Will our brain ever "let us know" if we don't?

Recall from above that this assignment "slipped my mind". What is it, after reading this idea of the Readiness Potential, to have something "slip your mind" if you're not even consciously aware of the fact to begin with?

These are all questions that are haunting me, given that if science can "disprove" "free will", what kind(s) of politics can exist in society? Is democracy an attainable ideal if "free will" is a false idea? Or do we inevitably fall to our subconscious whims that soon after firing in the brain's synapses become visible to our conscious self? This of course then brings in the next big concept to make scientists and cultural theorists bang their heads in collective frustration: that of .human nature". (As you can tell, I like a prolific use of quotation marks.)

This isn't to say that we don't have control, because we do have the ability to choose what we actually do, once we become consciously aware of something. A 'veto' power, as stated by the wiki article for any of you who clicked it.

So yeah, free will. Hmph.