What is consciousness?

I think I may have unlocked the secret to the nature of consciousness. Consciousness, or being awake and aware of your surroundings, is the ability to think. The ability to think is perhaps the most valuable asset we have as a species. Thoughts, emotions, feelings, rationality, irrationality. They're all in control of the same thing: our bodies. So now you may be wondering what is thought. Thought, is the ability to rationalize past and present events, and anticipate future events. We can think because of neurons in our brain. These neurons communicate through synapses. In the process of synaptic communication, neuro transmitters are released into the synapses. These chemical neuro transmitters are what create different thoughts and feelings. So our thoughts and bodies are in control by chemical transmitters. So what's behind these chemical transmitters? Our brains, or more specifically, our genetic code. Our brains are designed to be social. We're social creatures. This is why we have feelings such as empathy and love. When we are around people we love, chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine are released into our synapses. Our brain, and our genetic code, is what's behind the release of these chemicals. <br><br>As you can see, our unique genetic code is the driving force behind our thoughts. The only things we truly have control over is what we eat, and how we move our bodies. Anything related to thinking, or rationality, is out of our control. Our brains take care of that entirely. Every decision we make: out of our control. This begs the question, "What is free will?"<br><br>The answer to this question is that free will is just an illusion. The illusion of free will is brought upon us by our dependence on thinking and rationality. Our thoughts trick us into thinking that we have control over them. This is not true. Our genetic code controls our thoughts. Within our power, we can't even control what we think. We can't control how we rationalize things. <br><br>This brings us to the age old question, "Is my life predetermined?" In my opinion, the answer to this question is in the affirmative. Everything we do, every decision we make, is done entirely in the absence of free will. The only thing that we have control over is what we eat, and how we move our bodies. This may seem like we have a lot of free will, but in reality, it doesn't really matter what we eat, or how we move our bodies. When we make decisions on these things, it's not a thoughtful process. We don't know exactly why we eat in one place over another. We don't know exactly why we like certain foods. This is why our lives are predetermined, and we don't have any control.<br><br>This is my hypothesis. I hope you like it. I think it's interesting to see how we live our lives.