The only thing certain is that we don't even know the formatting of either reality or consciousness. On this basis no conclusions can be drawn. If you don't know anything beyond 99% certainty then nothing can be eliminated. We don't even know the nature of time.
It might be obvious to you that reality arose naturally just as it is but it is hardly obvious to science.
Not having a complete understanding, in this case of the Cosmos and reality, does not mean that anything is possible either. Just because we can imagine it does not make it possible. We learn this lesson repeatedly. We also know that simply lacking 100% understanding does not mean that we can't know anything. All we can do is build our core of knowledge and understanding incrementally, acknowledging and learning from our mistakes along the way.
It is not obvious to anyone how reality arose, for we lack sufficient information upon which to make a determination. How reality arose is indeterminable and unknown. What we do know with great confidence is that of what we have collectively observed of reality over the millennia is that there are clear, knowable, and predictable natural processes that make up reality. This is what we can speak confidently about. Anything anyone wants to imagine beyond this is fiction unless and until it is evidenced in some way.
I disagree.
George Carlin said the ten commandments boil down to "be honest" but, frankly, I think this is the minimum standard. I think it is advantageous to the human species to be family oriented. That means each individual respects his parents and cares for his children etc. This hardly means that failure with one or more family members is any kind of "sin" merely that people are supposed to care for one another and especially family. We're supposed to have values because this is part of "being honest". we are supposed to try to have fun and leave the world a better place. Many of us who concentrate on the former will probably party hearty while being annoyed by pitchforks in the posterior.
Greed is a deadly sin that our society has raised to the only good.
Yes, to each his own but we all need guidelines because it's very easy to fall into evil. Whole nations go mad and murder six million of their own citizens. What Carlin should have mentioned that everyone's first duty in being honest is to be honest with themselves. This country is less than a Hitler away from stacking bodies.
No one is denying that we need rules and standards that enable us to live communally, in societies. Yet there are valid, yet conflicting concerns that will always require some manner of compromise or concession. Take your family values stance for example. Not everyone has the capacity to be a good parent. Is the family unit inviolate such that we have no say in how parents treat their children, or are there times when society can an should step in? You say that every individual should respect their parents, but what if ones parents are not worthy of respect? Real life is much, much, more complicated than you seem to acknowledge here.
This is just an assumption. Humans and animals are distinct because they act on what they know and we act on what we believe. This is shown by experiment. It is reality and we ignore it at our own risk.
There is that 'assumption' word again.
We can induce belief in animals. We can create conditions in which pushing a button releases a treat. Later, even after the button no longer consistently provides a treat when pushed, there is belief instilled in the subject animal that pushing the button can and will result in a treat.
