Originally Posted by mo42

I think that conciousnesses and souls are, by definition, both necessary if one is to exist. "I think, therefore I am" means that either a) "I" is an entity, which thinks, or b) "I" is a collection of chemicals which is not actually thinking, but behaving in a predictable (provided you had an insanely powerful computer with the best chemical program ever) manner.

You can program a computer to output "I think, therefore I am", but it does not actually exist as a concious entity. It's merely a collection of magnets and electrons. If the human brain is merely a collection of chemicals and electrons, we are the same as the computer, saying "I think, therefore I am" but not actually "thinking". Your thought process would be an illusion.

In order to be different from the computer, outputting in a predictable manner, and thus actually be thinking and be concious, there must be some kind of outside influence on the decision making and thinking process, suggesting some form of soul.