100% Bullshit

[trickykitty]

Sent to me by Lolotehe, this guy's reaction to the Lucy trailer comes off as much, MUCH more subdued than my gut reaction of wanting to throw things at the movie screen and having roommates remind me that if I throw something at the screen we will not be able to watch the movie that we came to see and will probably get thrown out of the theater.

What he doesn't mention in that article is what I think is actually the more REAL reason why this myth perpetuates. It's because we DO have savants in our midst, and there are so many people that wish they could not only read a book in about an hour, but memorize the whole damn thing in the process. Who doesn't want to be the center of attention able to do massive calculations and weather on a given date at parties? There are even the more rare high IQ savant cases, showing that savantism doesn't require lowered IQ to exist.

And if it can exist in one individual, there's the chance it can exist in others.

The difference, though, isn't in how much of the brain is being used (100% is always being used or else the neurons atrophy and DIE - the brain really is a use-it-or-lose-it organ just like any other organ in the body), but in how the connections between the neurons work as well as the overall genetic build of the brain. Most people have a corpus callosum - Kim Peek did not. So unless you're willing to cut out a chunk of your brain for science and HOPE that you don't end up even more debilitated, like countless others out there with ACC, then by all means, grab your scalpel and get to work hacking and slashing at something you know little-to-nothing about. (I'm looking at you, average IQ person who thinks yoga can help with that 10% problem of yours.)

Perhaps during my lifetime I will get to see neuroscience uncover the connections that thankfully prevent information overload, and I shall cringe when people line up for injections that will stop those pesky brain inhibitions that allow us to be functional, irrational, dumb humans instead of know-it-all human calculators. Hasn't anyone ever seen Zardoz and actually understood the meaning of that movie? (No, not the meaning of how wonderful and awesome drugs in our lives is, but the meaning of the eternal search for everlasting life and genius IQ for all.)

Well, if you want to follow the research, I highly recommend reading up about the Human Connectome Project. I truly believe it's the brain wave of the future. (Ugh, why must my brain make such stupid puns?)