Cognitive science says that only 2% of thought is conscious (except for the scientists who believe that we aren’t really conscious in the way that we believe we are at all). “I would rather say that consciousness is not what we generally think it is. It is not direct awareness of our inner world of thoughts and judgments but a highly inferential process that only gives us the impression of immediacy.” from the story linked below.
The rest is subconscious and that is made up largely of cultural narratives, childhood programming, stereotypes, etc. — in essence your culture. Unless you’ve done the laborious and difficult work of intentionally separating yourself out from all that stuff in your subconscious, you aren’t really an individual. You’re just another animal in the herd.
And even if you truly are an individual, your intentions are still irrelevant. It’s the outcome of your words and actions that count. As I’ve said to many other commenters on this topic, whether you murder someone with malice or kill them accidentally, they are still dead. Your intentions don’t matter one bit to them.
