The Human Brain

What is the Brain?

Depending on who you ask, you will get several different answers to this question. If you ask a neurologist you will most likely get an answer about how the brain is broken down into different areas and what we believe each area controls. If you ask a computer scientist you will probably get an answer about the neuronets. A philosopher would tell you about how the brain is a wondrous device that can solve any problem and make all your dreams come true. The true answer is that the brain is all of those and much more.

Theoretical Physicist Michio Kaku once gave one of the best quotes about what a brain is when he said, “The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron is connected to 10 thousand other neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the universe.”

How much of the brain do we use?

It was once said that humans use 10 percent, or less, of their brains. This answer assumes that we know what the brain is capable of doing. That is far from the truth though since we actually have no idea of the limits of what the human brain can accomplish.

Physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson once the talked about how much of the brain we use in the following quote, “Everything we do, every thought we ever had, is produced by the human brain. But exactly how it operates remains one of the biggest mysteries and it seems the more we probe its secrets the more surprises we find.”

Over the years there have been dozens of theories on just what can be accomplished if we unleash the full potential of the brain. Some of them have suggested that we would be able to manipulate matter, read thoughts, come up with new ways of traveling through space, or see through time and space. It is amazing to think about what our future might hold for us.