It has been established that the brain is purely a set of boxes within boxes that transimit information to one another , at least directing human behavior, and yet, does that imply that this definition of the brain is behavior? Certainly the question then arises as to what defines behavior, however, for the purposes of this essay, behavior will be defined as all human action, ranging from simple actions such as breathing to the more complex emotions and decision-making.

The concept that the brain is a series of boxes allows one to better understand why the human body acts certain ways concerning survival skills, such as hunger, pain, and so forth: One can picture the neural signals traveling through one set of boxes for hunger and another for breathing and another for pain, and upon arriving at their destination, there is a particular output from the system. It is also possible to understand such a notion when one considers more complex bodily actions, such as the direction of the immune system or the processing of nutrients, but when one approaches more complex functions of a human, there is some skepticism. For example, when a human makes a decision, do the neural signals just follow some path through certain boxes and then the brain forms the decision? But why is one path chosen as compared to another one? Where does the difference come from and what is the distinction between these boxes that causes a different output?

It appears as though this particular version of the nervous system augments the idea that brain is behavior, at least for the more simple human actions because the particular path and direction of the nerual signals can be imagined and therefore understood. As for more complex human actions, it is more possible and probable that one can better imagine the path and direction of neural signals through the boxes, therefore making it somewhat easier for many to accept the notion that brain is behavior. I must admit that I am somewhat biased, as I already beleive that brain is behavior, but there remain some unanswered questions as to why certain boxes are located where they are, and why they are distinct from others and what makes those internal "decisions" for neural signals to follow one particular path. The secrets of the brain are slowly being unveiled, but that does not mean that we can or should stop asking questions.

Of course not. And PARTICULARLY if one thinks one knows how things are. And your questions point in an important direction. Maybe the boxes within boxes idea isn't ENOUGH. What indeed accounts for which direction things go between boxes? We'll try and see that there are boxes but that the signals aren't simply from one box to another but rather are simultaneous activity of lots of boxes, with lots of resulting influences. Maybe that will help? PG