There is a difference between the mind and the brain. We will never be able to reverse engineer the mind by studying the brain. Doing so would be like trying to reverse engineer a Windows box while someone is surfing the internet by staring at the motherboard. It's never going to happen.
Artificial Intelligence needs to be approached in the same way Linus Torvolds sought to create Linux. He didn't have any Unix code...he didn't need any Unix code. He just observed the functionality and created his own code. The underlying method may be different but they do the same thing. As such we should be observing how we perceive, remember, and learn. AI is a field for Philosophers and Psychologists not Biologists.
Artificial Intelligence needs to be approached in the same way Linus Torvolds sought to create Linux. He didn't have any Unix code...he didn't need any Unix code. He just observed the functionality and created his own code. The underlying method may be different but they do the same thing. As such we should be observing how we perceive, remember, and learn. AI is a field for Philosophers and Psychologists not Biologists.
There's a good book summarizing these kinds of debates, Searle's The Mystery of Consciousness, or something along those lines. It's a good read.