The Ten Percent Myth

[ajh]

when was the last time you talked to a head-shot victim and heard them say "they shot me in the 90% of brain i WASN'T using at the time!"

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

when was the last time you talked to a head-shot victim and heard them say "they shot me in the 90% of brain i WASN'T using at the time!"

Maybe the useable part is spread arround the entire outer surface of the brain, but then again deep surgery fucks you up as well.... Hum ah... maybe the 10% is evenly spread across the entire brain.

 

[Jotto999]

Haha, yeah. Evolutionarily, the evidence suggests the brain has been trying hard to save space (for example, that's why it has those wrinkles and folds, this allows more computation for less space than just a big even heap). Which wouldn't be necessary if 90% of it was unneeded fluff. That'd be the first to go.

 

[Gnug215]

Also, I distinctly remember an ad from Scientology about the book Dianetics where they espouse this nonsense.

To my recollection (I read Dianetics. Twice.) Hubbard never specifically mentions the 10% myth. He does, however, spend page after page talking about the brain's capacity to heal all ailments by using it's full potential. The book repeatedly, and infuriatingly, makes the claim that, "we have scientifically proven" every claim it makes without ever providing a study or even an argument to support it. I actually kind of thank Hubbard for that abortion since it helped me to really begin to critically examine everything I read. I highly recommend it to any skeptic who wants to give himself an aneurysm.

I never read the book, so I was actually only referring to the ad poster I saw which had this sad myth pasted on it.

 

[TheFlyingBastard]

Haha, yeah. Evolutionarily, the evidence suggests the brain has been trying hard to save space (for example, that's why it has those wrinkles and folds, this allows more computation for less space than just a big even heap). Which wouldn't be necessary if 90% of it was unneeded fluff. That'd be the first to go.

You mean there's more surface, so more material to work with? Kind of like mitochondria... That folding happens quite a lot in nature, apparently...