Most neurons fire around 200 times per second, on the average. Most people
visualize the brain as discrete sparks jumping and spreading from neuron to
neuron, not least because that's how "neural nets" work. In reality, much of
the information may be carried by differences in firing frequency. Some
neurons actually slow others down.
If your brain is unfrozen in an unactivated state, but with all permanent
structure present (the pattern of connections, the default frequencies), the
neurons will start firing at their default frequency. Then the frequencies
will start modulating each other and the mind will "boot up". At least,
that's the hope.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.