The main point is that with the tremendous discoveries of people such as Church/Turing (matter can be organized in such a fashion as to produce computation) [2] and those forgotten from the first page of history, such as Harold Saxton Burr (matter can be animated through bioelectricity), we no longer are bound to a static metaphysics where objects are made from a material which just sits there. It was obviously never the case, but fighting the phantasms of our own speculation is the hardest fight.
Therefore, no, matter is neither cold, nor hard, and we are surely very far from comprehending all the uses and forms of matter. Just look at all the wood objects around you and think how the same material was available also to Aristotle, 2,400 years ago, and to Descartes, 400 years ago, when they were writing their bad metaphysics, yet they were completely unable to think 1% of the wood objects you have readily available nowadays, cardboard and toothpicks included.
And also, yes, you are electrochemical charges, we all are, what else could we be? We looked insanely deep into the brain [4], there is no magic going on. A caveat would be that, yes, probably, we are not running on the first layer, at the level of sodium ions and neurotransmitters, but that the machinery, the brain, gives rise to a simulation: "only a simulation can be conscious, not physical systems" [5].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church%E2%80%93Turing_thesis
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Saxton_Burr
[4] "The Insane Engineering of MRI Machines", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlYXqRG7lus
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyVyirT6Cyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbNqHSjwhfs
> We looked insanely deep into the brain [4], there is no magic going on.
Indeed all computation and input collection and such happen in the brain. I just don't understand how I can experience anything if I'm composed only of matter. How come there happens to be a mind? Indeed the electrochemical charges from visual receptors in the eye will be transmitted and computed and memory and dopamine and all the neurons will fire regardless of whether I'm only matter or not. But how can the experiencing consciousness, 'me' arise from matter?
> only a simulation can be conscious, not physical systems
This is what I'm talking about, only that I don't see why simulations are not physical systems.
> yes, you are electrochemical charges, we all are, what else could we be?
It's nonsensical and unscientific to completely rule out the possibility that we can be something else as well, especially when we can't study it directly, like in the example of soul.
Sure, we have about 2,700 years of tradition speaking of souls (considering the major religions: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism). Where did those 2,700 years got us? Has any religion been able to build a conscious agent starting from basic materials (whatever they consider basic, pixie dust if they will)? Have all this years speaking of souls managed to achieve something meaningful, even as a side effect, that actually improves the quality of life? I'm talking hay [2], indoor plumbing, hook-and-loop fasteners, ibuprofen, GPS, voltmeters, extreme ultraviolet lithography, things that you and I can use and rely on daily. I have read pretty much all the major texts of the major traditions, from Mahābhārata to Summa Theologiae, call it intellectual curiosity. If not for the "bragging rights" to say that I know what filioque or bodhipakkhiyādhammā means, I would regret it, wasted time and pointless eye strain. So no, it's not nonsensical and unscientific to rule out a not even hypothesis such as the "soul" after 2,700+ years without any kind of results and absolute incompatibility with the way we actually interact with the world, scientifically or not: photons, atoms, electromagnetic fields and the like.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder
[2] "The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound historical consequences is hay.", https://quotepark.com/quotes/1924489-freeman-dyson-like-many...
To be clear on the other things you mentioned, I think science, enlightment and all the modern technology is completely worthless, evil, and harmful. I think they only degraded the quality of life, never increased. No, I’m not living under a rock, I know Rust and JS, have a digital ocean server and some domains, have built a cell phone from scratch, eat chocolate bars, have a 3 story concrete house, am surrounded by all sorts of digital screens. I’m aware what supposed “benefits” of modernity are.
See Islam [1,2] or the book Technological Slavery by Dr. David Skrbina [3].
[1] Documentary series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcnL9bB-q3ymnRNcpZGcVVjiD...
[2] Third-party moderated debates on Islam versus Modernity: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcnL9bB-q3ylQ9CZdB8YfjoDv...
[3] https://ia800300.us.archive.org/21/items/tk-Technological-Sl...
I know brain is a neural network. I just don't understand how cold, hard matter can result in this experience of consciousness we are living right now. The experience. Me. You. Perceiving. Right now.
I'm not talking about the relation between the brain and our conscious experience. It's obvious that brain is collecting and computing data every second for us to live this conscious experience. The very experience of perceiving, being conscious? The thing we take for granted the most, for that we're not without it any time, except when we're asleep?
Matter is what it is. A bunch of carbon and hydrogen atoms. How does the experience arise from matter? It can't. It is a bunch of atoms. I know how NNs and biological neurons work, still I don't see any way matter can do that. There must be some sort of non-matter essence, soul or something like that.
Is a bunch of electrochemical charges this thing/experience I am living right now? How can it be? Is Boltzmann brain [1] a sensible idea at all?
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain