We Are No Smarter Than We Appear To Be

From The Devil's Dictionary, pub. 1911, a satirical "reference" book written by Ambrose Bierce.

 

Brain: noun. An apparatus with which we think that we think.

Mind: noun. A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain.

Ambrose Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer and satirist. He died in 1913 and had probably never met a neuroscientist. Not that no one was studying the human brain and nervous system in the early 20th century, but not with the funding and technology that give neuroscience such appeal today. At least one out of every three smart people chooses to study neuroscience, though that's just my rough, entirely inaccurate estimate based on absolutely no data whatsoever. All branches of neuroscience have impressive "certified smart person" titles: neuroengineering, neuroimaging, neuroinformatics; cognitive, computational, or molecular neuroscience. Taken together;  

The task of neural science is to explain behavior in terms of the activities of the brain. How does the brain marshal its millions of individual nerve cells to produce behavior, and how are these cells influenced by the environment...? The last frontier of the biological sciences—their ultimate challenge—is to understand the biological basis of consciousness and the mental processes by which we perceive, act, learn, and remember. — Eric Kandel, Principles of Neural Science, 4th ed.

I would think that everyone with a brain would find neuroscience at least somewhat interesting; and to some of us, fascinating. For an intense hit, I read Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman, but for fun, I cruise around in Neuroscience for Kids. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html. All the golly gee facts and miscellaneous brain trivia as well.

The statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. Somehow, somewhere, someone started this myth and the popular media keep on repeating this false statement. According to the believers of this myth, if we used more of our brain, then we could perform super memory feats and have other fantastic mental abilities. But the physiology of brain mapping suggests that all areas of the brain have a function and they are used nearly all the time.

  So just put that 10% myth to rest. We are no smarter than we appear to be.

The brain weighs about 3 lbs. 

Read the label. Compared to most junk food, the brain is made of very simple, straightforward components; obviously completely organic and natural.

Water 78%
Lipids (fats) 10%
Protein 8%
Carbohydrate 1%
Inorganic salts 1%
Other 2%

Such a deceptively ordinary looking list of ingredients. Maybe it's the 2% Other that turns simple gelatin into the amazing organ that we take for granted until we experience a subtle slowdown in brain function; or worse. But our brains are like pie dough in that even with a short list of basic ingredients, neuroscientists inform us that each brain is unique.

•  No two brains have exactly the same outside appearance. 

• Each brain will have a different number of cells. Neurons probably die at different rates in different people. 

• Though the general circuits and connections among different parts of the brain will be fairly common among different brains, the specific connections in regard to the neurons and number of connections with each neuron will be very different for each individual, and can even change over the life of the person.

• The apparent variation in the nervous system on the molecular level is large as well. Differences in receptor distributions, neurotransmitter and neurohomone levels and perhaps even cell adhesion molecules may all contribute to the individuality of each brain and person! 

All of these variables in brain function taken together allow humans to experience an infinite muddle of worldviews whereupon everyone else seems like a fanatic. How can we be expected to compromise with other people whose receptor distributions are so different, whose neurotransmitter levels are clearly out of whack, and who don't have nearly as many neuron connections as we do?