GP, again its easy to get bogged down in semantics here. In my understanding of the brain, it evolved in three stages. Our so called reptilian brain, which controls things like breathing and heartbeat etc. Our limbic system, which governs emotions, ie. our inmpulses to act, the instant plans for handling life that evolution has instilled on us. Lastly our rational centre, which combines information from various centres, short term and long term memory etc and lets us make deductions from this information.

Based on the evidence, I can only conclude that the brain has a certain machine like funtion. If we look at people who had accidents, had bits of their brains removed in warfare etc, their personalities changed overnight. If we took a GP or a Yabby and someone altered the neural circuitry, we would not be the same people that we are now. In that sense my understanding of the brain is materialistic, there is no evidence of supernatural input.

Was it possible for brains to evolve an ability to deduce things, based on available information? Sure, why not?

But lets ask a question. How free is Osama bin Laden, to decide tomorrow to become say a Catholic?

He spent his whole life learning the Koran off by heart. All those around him, claimed it as the virtual truth. His emotions are tied up in his belief in Allah and what he has learned all his life. He has not been exposed to other philosophies, to any degree. Osama
is a product of his genes and his environment. Would rejecting all those things not be seen as irrational in his mind? So how free is his free will really?