We are not our thoughts. We are not the thinking machines in our heads. We control our thoughts, so we are more than them.
These machines are merely thinking machines.
These machines are merely thinking machines.
In other words, when I control my thoughts, what is doing the controlling?
(see George Gurdjieff's philosophy which speaks to this issue of the `mechanical vs the conscious`, but please don't run off and join a crazy cult and ruin your life).
A rock is also more than it's thoughts, and retains some degree of consciousness. Imagining concepts like souls as a sort of litmus test for consciousness only serves to reinforce a thought-based comprehension.