The thoughts come from the brain, but they weren't there initially. You didn't learn to talk by yourself. You are not the one who invented the words in your vocabulary. You have learned what they mean and how to use them.
This means that your thoughts have been created somewhere outside your skull.
Your beliefs are thus not your own. You have picked them up from somewhere, from parents and peers, gurus and priests, philosophers and politicians, mainstream and alternative media. And, of course, they have also picked them up from somewhere.
Your self is, to a large extent, created from stuff outside of you.
A crucial point about genes related to brain function (well, pretty much all genes) is that the same gene variant will work differently, sometimes even dramatically, in different environments. This interaction between gene variants and variation in the environment means that, ultimately, you can't say what a gene" does," only what it does in each particular environment in which it has been studied.
Determined Life Without Free Will Robert Sapolsky
