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DRoseDARs
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"My god, it's full of peas..."
Jul 2002
time: 21:28
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I'll take a stab at this as well Xin Yu, but I'm not a scientist either:
First of all, you're misinterpreting the 10% theory. It isn't "we only use 10% of our brains" it is "at any given time, about 10% of the brain's total capacity is used by the average person." It isn't that there's 90% of the brain that simply goes unused, it's that at any given moment 10% is active and that 10% shifts around throughout the brain as needed. There are probably lots of papers that refute the 10% amount, some stating higher, some stating lower, but now you should understand what is meant regardless of the number. Second of all, like Imran said, we're still a relatively young species. Evolution hasn't forced us to utilize a greater amount of our mental capacity. When Modern Humans first appeared, we probably used a little less then we now do, but not by much. Third of all, Evolution isn't an All-or-Nothing process. As I said in my second point, we simply haven't needed to have more active brains.
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Urban Ranger
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Apolyton Duke of Off-Topic
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quote:
Originally posted by Xin Yu
However there are theories saying that we only used 10% of our brains. |
This is incorrect. MRI scans show that we use every part of our brain - just not all at once. Each part has specific functions and they will only become active at those times.
Edit: something like DRose said.
Last edited by Urban Ranger on 27-01-2005 at 12:35
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Mordoch
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Denver, Colorado
Jan 2002
time: 05:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Xin Yu
If Darwin's evolution theory was correct, then we should have already used the full potential of our brains and bodies.
However there are theories saying that we only used 10% of our brains. Examples of people releasing brain and body power under emergency were not rare.
One of the two theories must be wrong.
I think darwin was wrong and we were created, what do you think? |
Quite simply your premise is nonsense. We definately don't use 10% of our brains, although this appears to be a popular misconception.
quote:
Claim: We use only ten percent of our brains.
Status: False.
Origins: Someone
has taken most of your brain away and you probably didn't even know it. Well, not taken your brain away, exactly, but decided that you don't use it. It's the old myth heard time and again about how people use only ten percent of their brains. While for the people who repeat that myth, it's probably true, the rest of us happily use all of our brains.
The Myth and the Media
That tired Ten-Percent claim pops up all the time. In 1998, national magazine ads for U.S. Satellite Broadcasting showed a drawing of a brain. Under it was the caption, "You only use 11 percent of its potential." Well, they're a little closer than the ten-percent figure, but still off by about 89 percent. In July 1998, ABC television ran promotional spots for The Secret Lives of Men, one of their offerings for the fall season's lineup. The spot featured a full-screen blurb that read, "Men only use ten percent of their brains." ...
Evidence Against the Ten-Percent Myth
The argument that psychic powers come from the unused majority of the brain is based on the logical fallacy of the argument from ignorance. In this fallacy, lack of proof for a position (or simply lack of information) is used to try to support a particular claim. Even if it were true that the vast majority of the human mind is unused (which it clearly is not), that fact in no way implies that any extra capacity could somehow give people paranormal powers. This fallacy pops up all the time in paranormal claims, and is especially prevalent among UFO proponents. For example: Two people see a strange light in the sky. The first, a UFO believer, says, "See there! Can you explain that?" The skeptic replies that no, he can't. The UFO believer is gleeful. "Ha! You don't know what it is, so it must be aliens!" he says, arguing from ignorance.
What follows are two of the reasons that the Ten-Percent story is suspect. (For a much more thorough and detailed analysis of the subject, see Barry Beyerstein's chapter in the 1999 book Mind Myths: Exploring Everyday Mysteries of the Mind.)
1) Brain imaging research techniques such as PET scans (positron emission tomography) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) clearly show that the vast majority of the brain does not lie fallow. Indeed, although certain minor functions may use only a small part of the brain at one time, any sufficiently complex set of activities or thought patterns will indeed use many parts of the brain. Just as people don't use all of their muscle groups at one time, they also don't use all of their brain at once. For any given activity, such as eating, watching television, making love, or reading, you may use a few specific parts of your brain. Over the course of a whole day, however, just about all of the brain is used at one time or another.
2) The myth presupposes an extreme localization of functions in the brain. If the "used" or "necessary" parts of the brain were scattered all around the organ, that would imply that much of the brain is in fact necessary. But the myth implies that the "used" part of the brain is a discrete area, and the "unused" part is like an appendix or tonsil, taking up space but essentially unnecessary. But if all those parts of the brain are unused, removal or damage to the "unused" part of the brain should be minor or unnoticed. Yet people who have suffered head trauma, a stroke, or other brain injury are frequently severely impaired. Have you ever heard a doctor say, ". . . But luckily when that bullet entered his skull, it only damaged the 90 percent of his brain he didn't use"? Of course not. |
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm
The moral of the story is that anti-evolutionism is greatly bolster by scientific ignorance by individuals.
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MRT144
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Seattle Washington
Oct 2002
time: 21:28
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dude, xi, please tell me you arent going to berkeley
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All times are GMT. The time now is 05:28.
Apolyton Time is 00:28. |
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27-01-2005 11:41
. Now I officially nullify my previous pick and I'll do another randomization and pick again (could still be Darwin though 
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