Rancheronerd

I’m making this post as much for my own clarification as anything else. I welcome any critique. I apologize for it’s length. To clarify, a computer is a CPU and it’s peripherals. A reflex is analogous to inserting a floppy disk in the drive and the drive spinning up or pressing the eject button and the disk popping out. The CPU has nothing to do with this process, it is strictly mechanical. Closing your eyes when you sneeze has nothing do with any brain process. It is a mechanical reaction to the mechanism of sneezing. Like most reflexes, you can consciously override it with foreknowledge (the build up prior to some sneezes) but the process of sneezing and it’s related facial movements is strictly mechanical. That some people don’t close their eyes when they sneeze simply means that they’re “broken” or the mechanism that produces the reflex doesn’t function in that individual. This is not much different than a faulty floppy drive failing to spin up upon insertion of a disk. A computer’s BIOS is analogous to sensory perception. Note that BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. On a computer, this is actually a program. This would be like a brain with no sensory input (useless). However, all modern computers come with this basic program that tells the CPU where a particular device is located and what it is. Your brain receives signals from your eyes, ears, etc. automatically. Like the brain, the CPU has no initial knowledge of what to do with this information. The next step for a computer is an operating system (OS). It tells the computer how to use it’s basic peripherals as it’s most basic function. This is how animals know when they smell something specific, like food. Some extra programs can also be included with the OS that extend beyond this very basic functionality (such as a program to automatically run a CD). I think this is analogous to the higher animals instincts such as pack behavior. One can also load extra programs on top of the OS that extend it’s functionality further such as a program that plays music from the CD that was just loaded. This is similar to the learning abilities of animals. The program has been added (learned) but it is such that, once loaded, it's automatic. What I think is said about man having no instincts is analogous to a computer not coming with an operating system. The link to the senses is pre-established (BIOS) but the knowledge of how to use any of that information is missing (OS). Man must program his OS himself as well as any other extended functions. He is the only creature that both has to do this and can do this. An animal is programmed both initially (came with the OS) and by it’s environment with no choice in the matter. Man can choose his programming and, to survive properly, must. P.S. The computer model completely breaks down for me beyond this. Computers aren’t volitional. Nor are wolves.