The brain is everything, literally

[Fdesilva]

Do I have control over all the neurological activity that is happening in the brain? All the cognitive activity that enables us to think, feel, perceive and live? The plain answer is no, and I will showcase this.

In order to get this you have to raise your awareness and notice that emotions just "appear".

And just like emotions, thoughts just appear.

So your thoughts, including the OP, are things that just appear and which you cannot control.

So you would have no way of knowing if your thoughts are correct.

They appear. They seem right to you. This seeming right to you is also a thought or cognition. It appears also.

You have no idea if you are making any sense at all.

Though it sure seems to you like you do, since that feeling it is making sense just appears and you have no control over that.

Thoughts appear in the same way as a google search results. Of the many thoughts the self has the ability to focus on what is relevant to the issue at hand. To focus is to choose. The ability choose appropriately is a measure of intelligence. So intelligence is dependent on the search engine (brain) and on the self that makes the choice. Ultimately unless the self can be explained using atoms and molecules the claim that the brain is sufficient to explain the mind does not hold.

[Karpel Tunnel]

Thoughts appear in the same way as a google search results. Of the many thoughts the self has the ability to focus on what is relevant to the issue at hand. To focus is to choose. The ability choose appropriately is a measure of intelligence. So intelligence is dependent on the search engine (brain) and on the self that makes the choice. Ultimately unless the self can be explained using atoms and molecules the claim that the brain is sufficient to explain the mind does not hold.

I am not sure if you are saying my comments were not correct conclusions of the other person's ideas or something else here. So, I will respond, but I may miss the context. In the other poster's model, sure, some brains might have better search engines, but in any given instance, each though just appears. This means all we really know, if we believe that position, is that thought X appeared when encountering discussion A or event B. There does not grant such a mind potential objectivity, or any way to self-evaluate.

I don't think the mind, or really the experiencing self, is the brain. First that's a reduction, since the whole body is involved in the experiencing self. We have more nervous system than just the brain, inclusing complex bundles in the gut and heart areas, and there is no Berlin Wall - which itself was porous, between brain and the rest of what it happening. Remove the thyroid or the adrenal glands and our experiencing and thoughts radically change. But that's just a start with what's wrong with equating selves with brains.

[Fdesilva]

Thoughts appear in the same way as a google search results. Of the many thoughts the self has the ability to focus on what is relevant to the issue at hand. To focus is to choose. The ability choose appropriately is a measure of intelligence. So intelligence is dependent on the search engine (brain) and on the self that makes the choice. Ultimately unless the self can be explained using atoms and molecules the claim that the brain is sufficient to explain the mind does not hold.

I am not sure if you are saying my comments were not correct conclusions of the other person's ideas or something else here. So, I will respond, but I may miss the context. In the other poster's model, sure, some brains might have better search engines, but in any given instance, each though just appears. This means all we really know, if we believe that position, is that thought X appeared when encountering discussion A or event B. There does not grant such a mind potential objectivity, or any way to self-evaluate.

I don't think the mind, or really the experiencing self, is the brain. First that's a reduction, since the whole body is involved in the experiencing self. We have more nervous system than just the brain, inclusing complex bundles in the gut and heart areas, and there is no Berlin Wall - which itself was porous, between brain and the rest of what it happening. Remove the thyroid or the adrenal glands and our experiencing and thoughts radically change. But that's just a start with what's wrong with equating selves with brains.

You say "I don't think the mind, or really the experiencing self, is the brain" I agree with that but for a different set of reasons. Central to what you are saying are two concepts.
1. The thought
2. The self to whom it appears
Underlying your claim is the assumption that the above two thing are made from atoms/molecules and forces. However you have not demonstrated that the assumption is valid. A proper demonstration will require something like a thoughts consist of 5 or more nerves generating impulses every seconds etc. The thought of the number 2 is 10 nerves in two groups of 5 etc. Then how about the self? Basically the description above is what I can imagine. However in regards to self I cannot come up with an explanation that is based on brain activity alone. So if you can please do. Otherwise you need to look at the fundamentals of physics and discover what narrative works best.