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I'm immediately skeptical of Crazy Horse on this: his comment has dualism written all over it, with the material/immaterial mapping to the microscopic/macroscopic world of physics. That would be neat if true, but I'd rather reject more likely candidates first.
The Mind reconfigures neural pathways. Among those so configured are the pathways to/from the diencephalon where the Thalamus and Hypothalamus major control areas for the endocrine system are.
Thus, what you think may become what you are.
Also, the Thalamus is the 'ante room' to the two cerebral hemispheres where higher cognitive functions are located. As the body does its 'thing' messages are passed to the Thalamus through the Central Nervous System and the biochemical signals of the endocrine system. Together these 'inform' the Thalamus which then transmits messages to the cerebral hemispheres.
Thus, what you are may become what you think.
Out of the googleplex of messages being transmitted eventually some of what you think will become what you are. Out of the googleplex of messages being transmitted eventually some of what you are will become what you think.
On a simplistic level, the homeostasis system will generate signals to the Thalamus which send signals to the cerebral cortex which will result in the thought, "Let's go out for a pizza."
It works the other way as well. That's how we can make the decision to hold our breath so we don't drown while swimming under water. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
Newton's Gravity still affects brain components. Why not other physical aspects? "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
Similarly we may or may not need quantum mechanics to describe consciousness to an extent we are satisfied with. If it turns out our brains store data in quantum states, for example (admittedly I know very little about QM), then sure, QM will have to be into incorporated into an adequate description of consciousness.
I'm not equating transistors or logic gates to neurons, by the way. I'm claiming that in a universe with no apparent absolutes, pinning down assumptions through approximate models is all we can do, that this is useful, and that less sophisticated models, even those that have been superseded by models that work in a broader range of cases, can be adequate for our purposes.
Not quite: Transistors only work BECAUSE of quantum effects.
Without quantum effects we would still be using vacuum tubes. The Fates are kind.
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