That thing we possess that we can't explain but we all feel implicitly or explicitly which seems to give our existence meaning. That thing that, despite all your rationalizations, allows you to feel you are a distinct existence with an individuality that extends beyond thoughts, personality, and behavior.

Which can all be explained by the material that your brain is composed of. A soul is an outdated concept with religious significance and meaning. When we discover the mechanism behind consciousness, which is an inevitability, it will seem a lot less strange and alien, much like when Galileo peered through his telescope to see the stars and planets.

When we discovered galaxies — and to me, that seems like a thing we've always had — some scientists balked at it; for there to be another galaxy — multiple galaxies in the universe would imply sizes and scales that were absolutely ridiculous!

> Also used to back up his claims [that the idea of galaxies was wrong] was the observation of a nova in the Andromeda "nebula" that had briefly outshone the entire nebula, constituting a seemingly impossible output of energy were Andromeda in fact a separate galaxy.

But of course, the nova was real, the "seemingly impossible" energy output was also real. The Great Debate[1] happened, and eventually those unacceptably ridiculous distances became common knowledge.

The universe occasionally catches us off guard. I think most of us want to know why, if we're just, as you imply, a collection of chemical reactions, why are we "here", in the sense of having what we call a consciousness? It may very well be that there will come an explanation some day, rooted in quantum physics or some unnamed, yet-dreamed-up branch of science, but it hasn't yet, and that forthcoming explanation could very well discover that there is a fundamental difference between man and machine, just as it could very well discover there isn't. We won't know until someone does the work of coming up with testable hypotheses, and probably a better definition of "consciousness".

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Debate_(astronomy)

> yet-dreamed-up branch of science

Neuroscience

Someone took Metaphysics 101. It turns out reconciling science and philosophy isn't so easy.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/is-scientif...

Probably not.

Are you talking about consciousness?

https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes...

No. I've explained it the best way I can.