Reading over all the comments, I’d have to say that I agree that the brain is a system, a series of input/output boxes relying on each other to organize and create behavior. It is hard to call our brain a machine, merely because of the image it creates in my mind about something rather inhuman and emotionless/like a metal-box… but in reality what better term is there to use? The idea of organization can be comforting because of its ability to establish stability of thought and the mind’s processes; one example of this deals with human relationships. In order to properly relate and empathize with a fellow human, we would somehow have to be able to share or allude to similar thoughts and actions. Being able to understand ideas that are not our own creation occurs by referencing them to similar or contrasting thoughts in our own minds is exactly what an input and output system defines. This phenomenon is only possible if we all share similar brain mechanisms to allow us to process the same information in parallel manners. Not to say that we all think the same, but as we are all human beings with a common organ like the brain, it seems obvious that this similarity is a connection that relates us all together. If we did not all share that same “system” in our brains, thus sharing similar brain setup and functioning, how would we be able to fully communicate and relate to each other?