Machines can't think, people, and they never will unless a chemistry-based computer is invented.
I'm not sure you need brains to cause minds. Although the processes in our minds are complex, they can be described algorithmically or be simulated by artificial neural networks, although in a limited way at the present time.
"Programming requires long nights staring blankly at mind-muddling objective languages."
Actually, no, it doesn't
How come? But the real programmers do it? citing
The Real Programmer is capable of working 30, 40, even 50 hours at a stretch, under intense pressure. In fact, he prefers it that way. Bad response time doesn't bother the Real Programmer-- it gives him a chance to catch a little sleep between compiles. If there is not enough schedule pressure on the Real Programmer, he tends to make things more challenging by working on some small but interesting part of the problem for the first nine weeks, then finishing the rest in the last week, in two or three 50-hour marathons. This not only impresses the hell out of his manager, who was despairing of ever getting the project done on time, but creates a convenient excuse for not doing the documentation.
The moon is made of green cheese. -- John Heywood