I think it's a misnomer to say the mind is material.
From my limited understanding of the brain, my concept of the mind is this:
- The brain is a computer and the computer is material
- The brain executes software, and the software is grown/encoded as neural networks
- The state of the running instance(s) of the software is the current action potential of every neuron
- Both the software and the state encode information
- The information can represent things that are real, unreal, consistent, inconsistent, etc.
- The information is abstract and immaterial, but stored in a physical and dynamic system
- The flow of information is tolerant of faults and noise in the underlying physical neural network. A failure of a small percentage of connections does not prevent the information from flowing through the system
- The information is not dependent on the precise physical network, but rather on the virtual network composed of many redundant connections
Therefore, I think the mind is:
- information
- encoded in a virtual network
- built on many redundant physical neural connections
- produced and supported by the brain
From my limited understanding of the brain, my concept of the mind is this:
Therefore, I think the mind is: