An adult brain weighs up to 3 pounds. It is made up of over 100 billion nerve cells. The brain performs many functions other than thinking.
The central nervous system comprises of the brain and the spinal cord. All sorts of mesages are continually being sent to the brain via the nervous system. The brain is interpreting these signals and responding in various ways. We are unaware of much of this activity and we are not making conscious decisions on how to respond to these messages.
Yet we are able understand a lot about our environment and what is happening around us and to us. We are even able to anticipate potential future events and work out what to do next!
The brain is a memory store and can return an answer to a question instantly. A computer needs to sequentually scan data looking for the answer. It might uses indexes to cut down the range of the search but it can only find data by following a given computer program designed by a human being!
We can use our brain to control parts of our body, walking, picking something up, catching a ball, controlling a car, etc. Everything we do uses our brain to control our body
The brain gives people the ability to think. Our memory contains information to allow us to remember information. Our brain is also able to allow us to create new information, understand new consequences from existing data and anticipate future events.
References:
**1 - "What Darwin Didn't know - Geoffrey Simmonds M.D. - ISBN 0-7369-1313-0