Perhaps my question doesn't belong in this forum.. Either way, I'd appreciate it if someone could explain this to me.

Essentially I just want to know what our conscious thought is, where it comes from and what its limitations are.

Whilst I haven't been explicitly told, from what I gather one's thought process is the result of some physical activity. It is an interpretation of electrical signals traveling within our body. If this is the case, would that mean that thought is a type of sense? And if it is only capable of interpretation of physical sensations, could it be a form of Sandbox where every thought is able to be not only manipulated, but in fact created?

Whilst this explanation (over simplified or just plain wrong as it may be) makes sense to me, it raises some issues I haven't really considered before. Such as the vulnerability of our mind (and consequently our existence) to third-party interference; and furthermore the impossibility of ever knowing absolutely, whether in fact our experiences are real or fabricated. Perhaps our minds operate in response to another will we are not aware of..

I know this sounds like something pulled from the Matrix, but it is still a legitimate concern of mine nonetheless. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance,
Luke

http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showforum=97

Hi Luke,
I'm not sure this will answer all of your philosophical questions, but it will hopefully clarify the more biological ones. From the point of view of neuroscience your thoughts are not interpretations of electrical signals in your brain, rather they are electrical signals. In other words, it is the electrical signals generated by your brain's neurons that create the experience of thinking. There is no intermediary step of interpretation that is separate from neuronal activity. However, not every electrical signal generated within your brain's neurons enters your consciousness and figuring out what it is that separates neuronal signals that you become aware of from those that pass unnoticed is one of the major goals of neuroscience. Google Christof Koch if you are interested in finding out more. He is an established neuroscientist who is very active in popularizing the scientific approach to consciousness.
Concerning the vulnerability of the mind and third-party interference, you should not be alarmed. To directly manipulate a single thought you'd need to know exactly which ones of the brain's 100 billion neurons to stimulate, how many of them should be active, in what sequence, for how long, etc., etc., etc. Add to it the facts that these parameters will be different in any given individual and that you'd want to do it non-invasively and the problem moves way beyond our current theoretical understanding or technological ability.