Consciousness

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The very same brain can be either conscious or unconscious, or it can be conscious of some things but unconscious of others.  Consciousness is no doubt brain-dependent, and the conditions which allow for consciousness are physical (electrical activation, neurochemistry, brain structures), but consciousness itself is a bit more elusive.  That's why scientists refer to it as an emergent property or a function of the brain rather than as the brain itself, just like language is a function of the brain.

What we are conscious of is information.  That information has already been abstracted by unconscious processes which work much faster than consciousness.

Sorry, but "consciousness" and "the physical brain" are synonymous, in my mind. I have been taking different medications for a number of years, which has no doubt affected my brain, to some extent, and my personality is not what it was before I was taking the meds, which leads me to believe that changes in my brain altered my personality.

Try this: take a human brain (how you acquire it is up to you). Put it on your kitchen table. Observe it for signs of consciousness.

And ‘personality’ and ‘consciousness’ are not the same thing.

Boru