I hate to "umm, akshually" but apparently we have been studying the brain for thousands of years. I wasn't talking about purely modern neuroscience (which ironically for our topic of emergence, (often till recently/still in most places) treats the brain as the sum of its parts - be them neurons or neurotransmitters).

> The earliest reference to the brain occurs in the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, written in the 17th century BC.

I was actually thinking of ancient greeks when writing my comment, but I suppose Egyptians have even older records than them.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_neuroscience

I came here to say this :)