Using the ideas of boxes inside of boxes inside of boxes makes it much easier for me to accept the idea that behavior is brain. I'm not sure if, just by drawing a picture in class, I have a clearer idea of brain as the operator of behavior, but I have certainly been thinking about the concept ALOT. I question just what in the environment, in our own "mind", in the input, etc. makes us behave the way we do. When one realizes the millions and billions of possibilties of brain structures paired with the incredible number of neuronal structures, along with the variablity of chemical levels, one begins to understand that, yes! there are so many possibilities that could be held accountable for the infinite number of behaviors that really exist! In some ways, it seems so simple---we are just a product of neurons, neurtransmitters, and the commmunications at synapses. And it makes (maybe not perfect) solid sense that behavior could indeed be entirely explained by the brain. There are so many combinations of brains and nerves and synapses and input; each combination ellicits a different response. That is why we all have similar basic behaviors, but each person has a slightly different, personalized version of that behavior. Two people could be in the exact same situation, but one brain may receive the input in one way and the other brain in a different manner OR one nerve may carry the message more quickly than the other OR the neurotransmitter may be activated at one synapse and not at the other's....all of these could produce different outputs. When looked at in the grand scheme, if this takes place in every brain, every second, then there are just trillions and trillions of different outputs. When I think about this over and over, I DO convince myself that all behavior could stem right from the two pound mass in our skull and from the spinal cord and the PNS. I won't end, though, without expressing how freaky this idea is--I still want to know where the mind and free will wind up. With this idea, there is no choice. Instead, we are like machines, operating by levers and pulleys, switches and buttons, and it is just a matter of who pushes what...... So if that is the case, then would we believe that a serial killer is innocent simply because he "had no control", claiming that his neurotransmitters and nerves were to blame for his behavior........hmmmmmmm?????

Hmmmmmmm, indeed. Yep, lots of possible "machines", which helps. But not ENOUGH, since each is still a machine and we are ... ? No, I don't think that's where we'll end up. Yes, we'll do better than absolving serial killers of any responsibility. Now, how will we get THERE? Want to guess? You're doing pretty well so far. PG