On naturalism and consciousness

[Surgenator]

In my view, the brain is the collection of neurons; the mind is the processes that run on those neurons. So a mind can exist on other mediums if we know what processes/algorithms need to run.

Re-reading the above has me wondering if we aren't ignoring something important in the nature of human consciousness, that is physical sensation as component of self-awareness. Any assertion that human consciousness can operate normally without sensory input can be described as somewhat absurd in the light of the effects of prolonged sensory deprivation upon the human mind/brain mechanism.

Here is my theory of how self awareness comes about. For the record, I'm not an expert on the brain or philosophy. In the brain, the mind accesses short term memory, long term memory, sensory information. Each access and interaction is stored in the short term memory, like a memory version of a log file. So when the mind accesses the memory log file, it can see what it recently processed. The mind can also see when it accessed the log file; hence, it knowns it accessed the log file. That is self awareness.

Also, long term sensory deprivation causes hallucinations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_deprivation