[bserge]

> the level of understanding we have of a microprocessor all the way from transistors to the algorithms running on it

Good example, because the vast majority of people don't understand that. I tried and I still don't, nevermind someone who doesn't even care.

I mean, I know the theory, I know the individual parts, but can't quite fully understand how a complete processor works.

If someone from as early as 1920 would find an advanced robot that is a combination of some Boston Dynamics model and offline/autonomous Google Assistant (so it could walk, listen/talk/reply, and maybe pick stuff up), they would not be able to figure out how its "brain" works. At best they'd have a general idea/theory.

Same thing with our brains and current understanding of it. I believe it is possible to reverse engineer it completely, but not with today's tools.