Comment by jkhdigital

Your last statement misses the mark—of course the brain is the root of human intelligence. The error is in assuming that consciousness is the primary learning modality. Or, as you put it, “arguing semantics”.

From my own personal experience, this realization came after finally learning a difficult foreign language after years and years of “wanting” to learn it but making little progress. The shift came when I approached it like learning martial arts rather than mathematics. Nobody would be foolish enough to suggest that you could “think” your way to a black belt, but we mistakenly assume that skills which involve only the organs in our head (eyes, ears, mouth) can be reduced to a thought process.