This is mix true. There are definitely subcortical structures that play a role in function and diagnosis can proceed in a fairly straightforward manner when it comes to stroke, tumor, or head injury. AND the brain is not simply a computer in the same ways in which a computer is a computer. Alternative theories to computational (in the binary logic sense) models of the mind abound, but are also hard to test. The Towards a Science of Consciousness conferences in Tucson in the late '90s and early '00s were a fertile ground for these dialogues, fights, and investigations.