From the start, I was comfortable with the idea that the brain is behavior. I think the idea that the nervous system is an input/output box containing boxes which contain boxes, etc...helps me conceptualize the whole system more. And this idea of boxes within boxes also makes sense because of the great number of different behaviors there are to any given input(and just the vast number of behaviors in general). Many boxes make sense to be able to handle such a number, and given the massive number of the "smallest box"(the neuron), it is reasonable to think of the brain in such a way. I have always heard of "centers" in the brain that perform certain functions and carry out specific tasks, and the notion of "boxes" makes even more sense to me.

I think what is very important about this model we have created is the interconnectedness(if that is a word) between the boxes. This may sound silly, but do you remember in cartoons when someone would get a fabulous idea and a light bulb would appear over their head? I have always had that picture in my head. No matter what you do, say, think, or how you behave, your whole brain(or a vast majority of it) "lights up." Knowing that each neuron has a thousand connections, well, lots will light up. And it doesn't matter how specific or non-specific a function is because lots of connected boxes will also light up. {I think my next question will be "what happens when a bulb blows out?"}

So, not only do the numbers fit(lots of inputs/outputs, lots of boxes, lots of behaviors, etc...), but I think the model fits, too. Behaviors cannot occur without the nervous system, and parts of the system need other parts of function.

Like the "lighting up". Will have to think about what that means in terms of brain. Yes, I agree that interconnectedness absolutely critical to this way of thinking of things. Will have to spend some time trying to specify exactly what we mean by that. (and will help with what happens when a bulb blows out, I think). PG