So-called miracles are illusions of the human brain
This argument is used in the debate Does God exist?.
This argument is an objection to Miracles attest to God's direct intervention.
Summary
Quotes
“The human brain operates with a first-rate simulation program. Our eyes don't give our brains a faithful photo of what exists, or an exact film of what's happening in real time. The brain builds itself a model that is constantly updated: updated by impulses chattering along the optic nerve, but built nonetheless. Optical illusions are a good reminder of this. A major class of illusions, of which the Necker cube is an example, occur because the sensory data received by the brain is compatible with two alternative models of reality. With nothing on which to base a choice, the brain alternates, and we keep toggling between the two inner models. The image we look at seems, almost literally, to invert itself and become something else. [...] It [our brain] is quite capable of constructing perfectly truthful "visions" and "apparitions". For such a sophisticated program, it's child's play to simulate a ghost, an angel or the Virgin Mary. And the same goes for what we hear. When we hear a sound, it's not faithfully transported to the auditory nerve and relayed to the brain like a high-end hi-fi system. As with vision, the brain builds a model of sound based on continuously updated auditory nerve data.”
