To set things off we know that we use an execeptionally low percantage of our brain. People believe that in some day and age our brain will reach its full compacity and function at 100%. But is that what we really want? Possibly in the future we will know how to rid ourselves of all the components which dystroy our brain cells, but lets make a scenerio for the hell of it. Lets say a child is born with 100% usage of his brain, in OUR society. Try and think of how it would be for him, his brain cells constantly dying down due to the toxic substances floating in the air. He will literally feel himself get stupider every single second of every single day for his entire life. Is this something we would really want? We kill many brain cells but since our small usage of the brain, we never feel the effects of it (unless it is with drugs). This person using 100% of his mind will feel every single effect of it all day long. Would 100% of the brain, that we usually strive for, be something you would want? Or is it something we should fear?
Science has determined what most regions of the brain do. You use most of your brain, most of the time. The idea that people only use 10% (or some other small percentage) of their brain is an urban myth with no scientific backing. It's just the sort of thing that uneducated people repeat to each other because it sounds cool and mysterious.
It's more that you only use 10% at a time, approximately. Look at PET scan or whatever.. If you were to use your entire brain at one time I believe you'd be in a huge seizure.
Yep. That myth has been used by mystics and quacks and spoonbenders and motivational speakers and the like to add mystery to what they do, claiming that the reason almost no one has the ability to read minds or levitate or move things with their thoughts is because we have long ago lost the use of 90% or more of our brain power. "Can you imagine what miracles you could perform, how successful you could be, if only you were able to regain the use of all of your brain's abilities?" they'd say. Hooey. The origin of the myth is supposedly that early studies indicated that not all of the brain's functions occur at once, at any given time. If you're focusing hard on a math problem, for example, your right brain wouldn't be writing poetry on the side. The "math section" of your brain would be active. Later on your "poetry section" may be active. However, the time lapses between switching from one to the other may be only milliseconds. So, in effect, you do use most of your brain, most of the time.
Evolution would have selected against such a stupid useless 'large' brain ages ago (if there were such a mutant with one!)
VOTORX: Why are you so quick to disrespect the uneducated? Just because someone has read something and heard it many times, and believed it, does not mean that they are stupid. What it means is that they have not heard the most recent "truth." If scientists and religions did not publish so much early on that was incorrect, there perhaps would not be so many ill informed. People who are really in the "know" are not so critical. When people do not know, teach them; do not criticize them in such a way that you make them sound like morons. PMT
I assume that this was directed at me. Going through life waiting for someone to feed you 'the latest truth' is exactly the sort of thing that leads to people believing ridiculous crap. When you hear some startling new fact, you should apply critical thinking skills to decide how plausible it is. A little logical reflection should immediately reveal to people that the 'we only use 10% of our brains' claim is very implausible.
Err...where in my post did I ever say that we use 10% of our brain? I made it a point not to mention how much of the brain we truly use. I am only repeating what I have heard many times, and that that we use an exeptionally low percantage of our brain. Okay? What does this have to do with me? Anyways I would like to make it clear 1 more time that I never said how much of the brian we use. I am only suggesting that we use an low percantage of the brain. Now imagine this was true and relate it to my post. And untill there is proof that we use the supposed amount of brain power that you suggest i will continue to say we use a low amount of our brain. FYI, it is evitable that it is impossible to use all your brain (ex. Cerebellum, Medula Omblagada, etc etc). This is a game of "what if", don't take everything so seriously. If 100% of the brain would be used it is obvious we would have died from either over pulsating, heart attacks, lost of oxygen, carbon poisining, inflamations, over bleeding, intoxication, common diseases, and every single other possible alteration of our homeostasis.
Geeesh, I wish I could locate 10 percent of my brain, I seem to lose track of it from time to time in my old age. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
WESMORRIS: and PET and MRI scans are not absolute the are relative. that is to say the measure regions compared to other regions. Not what is actual active.
Understood. However, one of them damned sumbitches show where oxygen is being used during thinking, which is I believe applicable to the matter at hand.
VOTORX: You right! Boy, no one can sleep around me, huh? Guess it was NASOR that said that. I apologize, but, buddy do not tell me how seriously to take things, okay? NASOR: Perhaps, what is actually meant is that we use only a small percentage of our brain's potential. Every day, we have lazy times when we slide through something, for one reason or another. NAsor wrote: "Going through life waiting for someone to feed you 'the latest truth' is exactly the sort of thing that leads to people believing ridiculous crap." Now, there you go again. Just because someone is not informed on one thing does not indicate that he is "going through life waiting for someone to feed him." Thinking that we use only a small percentage of our brain is not so ridiculous as you would make it seem. None of us seem to live to our potential, so far as the brain goes. Yet, at the same time, for anyone to say that you are not living and learning to your full potential, does not know what he is talking about in truth. Because, our potential has a heck of a lot more to bank on than our brain; therefore, I say 1) no one can truly say what our potential is, and 2) I know of no one who seems to be daily using 100% of anything, do you? What I was objecting to, was a person who, finding that another knows less than he, assumes the other is living his life in ignorance. So, what does this say? It says to me that when one thinks that he is the least acceptable, or, that anyone less than him is really bad off, he is not saying much for himself. PMT
This wasn't just directed to you but to everyone participating in this thread. This is just a thought, no theory, im not trying to prove anything, like I said this is what if, so nothing personal eh?
VOTORX: All right! A reasonable individual. How about that? So, tell me, what's with the "Don't Anger the Fluff?" PMT
wesmorris: but thats only an oxygen tracer...doesn't mean that the rest of the neurons in the brain aren't shooting APs around thebrain.
Just as the use of a pot depends on the empty space within as much as the substance without, the entire brain is necessary for thought, even if only a small part seems to have activity. Perhaps the entire brain defines the field in which thought can occur. Under the influence of psychoactive substances, much more of the brain comes into play, the doors of perception are opened, but it is at the same time chaotic and not practical for daily life. It is absolutely necessary for the brain to restrict thought. How many thoughts can you think at once? Would it be more useful to think many thoughts at once, or would it just be more confusing? On another note, the case of autistic savants is interesting. Savants have a very specialized ability, and this is associated with increased density of connections in a specific area of the brain. We can conclude from this that for greater abilities, the potential lies in density, not in greater integration of thought in all parts of the brain.
If you click on my name and look at my avatar you see kirby singing metal with spiked hair and a microphone. Lol, when i saw that I thought kirby was angry and was about to kill somone so to represent the avatar im warning people..."Do not...Anger...The Fluff..."
