Jeff Hawkins' "On Intelligence" is a good attempt to answer this. In shorthe it proposes that thinking "is" prediction, and that prediction is the primary funct

Jeff Hawkins' "On Intelligence" is a good attempt to answer this. In shorthe it proposes that thinking "is" prediction, and that prediction is the primary function of the neocortex. It's a good dense (not too fluffy popsci) book. Eric Baum's "What is Thought?" Asks the same question, and I recall really enjoying it, but I don't think makes asense strong of an answer.