[lutusp]

> Molecules do not "think" though.

Wait ... our brains are composed of molecules, and we think with our brains. That makes it a question of scale or organization, not principle.

This may sound kind of woo-woo, but many people are asking that question -- where do we draw the line between thinking and simple biological existence?

One idea is something called panpsychism, the idea that all matter is conscious, and our brains are only a very concentrated form. Easy to say, not so easy to prove -- but certainly the simplest explanation. In this connection, remember Occam's razor.

Philosophers describe consciousness as their "hard problem" -- what is it? Not just what it is, but where is it located, or not located. At the moment we know next to nothing about this question, even what kind of question to ask.

Consider the octopus -- it has islands of brain cells scattered around its body, and if you cut off an octopus arm, the arm will try to crawl back toward the ... umm ... rest of the octopus. Weird but true. Seeing this, one must ask where to draw the line between brain and body, between neurology and physiology.