[Ignitionnet]

The human brain is the most complex structure we know of anywhere. In the context of that what we know about it is extraordinary.

Our perception of 'reality' is an incredibly complex amalgamation of an incredible number of different inputs, all processed on a massively parallel scale. We estimate it requires about 100 exaflops, that a 1 with 20 0s behind it, to simulate the human brain in full. Just to match the raw computational power of the human brain, ignoring everything else required to simulate it, requires 20 petaflops, 2 with a mere 16 0s after it.

Give someone a load of L-DOPA, LSD or any other dopamine agonist and see what happens. That's just one chemical you've messed with and things go completely pear shaped.

I tend to stick with the idea that the brain is an information processing device, however it's one that's so powerful we have an incredibly profound sense of ourselves and the world around us. We've had no choice but to develop this else we wouldn't have survived and thrived as a species given the various other species stronger, faster and more endurant than us who wanted to eat us.

A 'mind' is the consequence of the right 'programming' and enough computational power to handle input, both from external and internal sources, and process it according to that program.

My 2p.