We are told we do not use our brains' full capacity. Would you want an artificial?

Question

I do not know if it's possible. This would be connected to your brain, not replace it. And no cost to you, 100% covered by your insurance.
Unseen colors would be "converted" to visible ones, and similarly with sounds. You'd see in the dark, and no longer need eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Your memory would have more "storage space", good when actors must know their lines. Quiz games on TV would be easier despite the time limits. And imagine not needing to bring a written shopping list.
You'd be more free to be creative because the device is already helping your logical and fear-based thinking. For example, it might be pre-programmed with safety rules and typical causes and effects. You could do more math without a calculator.
Your health could be monitored, including medicine reminders. The device would reduce or cancel out epileptic seizures.
You'd notice body signals sooner such as for pointing, walking closer, or avoiding danger.

The 1991 movie "Defending Your Life" jokes that the attorneys use a larger %.

Looks as if it's already here.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0001070F-300E-1F30-9AD380A84189F2D7&ref=sciam

See an infrared detector here.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060524222546.htm

Genes (brain size) or organization?
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/10.10/01-genes.html

Answer 1

Insurance would never cover this. Plus, by unseen colors i think you mean wavelengths like IR and UV? There has been some headway made on bio-computing, but nowhere near what you're talking about. I like the good ole' brain I have.

Also, that old addage is extremely misleading. We DO use 100% of out brain, just not at once. We only use like 10% of our brain at any given moment. That's not to say we don't use it.

Answer 2

Well wait a minute that statement is very confusing true we dont use 100% of our brain but than means that we dont use 100% at 1 time but we actually do use almost 90% of the grey matter the makes up are brain but each part is used for different task such as typing and dreaming of robotic attachments to gain extraordinary abilities use specific parts of the grey matter and we cannot use 100% of our brain at 1 time because it would be sensory overload and u wouldn't be able to organize it in any clear reality and would end up being paralyzed by all the information see our brain takes in absolutely enormous amounts of information at any given second and it is a defense mechanism to ignore some so as to focus on one or some given tasks that are relevant to that person at a given time. But there r some people in this world who use many different parts of their brain at once and the consequences are quite evident they are Autistic and most of the time cannot interact with the outside world but every once in awile a Savant will emege and strech the envelope of human ablities in everything from Math to Music to Architechture and Sclupture u should look up some real world cases of savants it is very interesting reading.

Answer 3

have you been reading a book of William Gibson or Bruce Sterling ? They tell stories like that from the end of the 70s.

However there is ALREADY a chip that gran sight for completely blind people, small implants for people completely deaf, and now there is a new medical implant that stimulate the brain cells to reduce the effects of Alzheimer disease.

Eyeglasses and contact lenses are a different story, that is a problem with the eye muscle relaxation, not with brain cells.

And for the memory, we should fisrt understand how it works, then maybe construct a device that will amplify it. For now it's only sci-fi

Answer 4

Sigh. You tempt me. I can readily believe that you are not using your brain to its full capacity. As you seem to need some help with your thinking, allow me to give you a piece of my mind!

It is not possible with current technology (but please don’t give anybody any bright ideas! I don’t want to see anybody experimented upon.) We have a tough enough time trying to restore our standard capabilities, let alone go beyond them. Wired magazine did an article on a man who had electrodes implanted in the vision center of his brain, to help restore his sight. They were not able to restore his full sight, and the technology was dependent on his existing brain tissue; it was not a replacement for it. He did not see actual colors, just shapes, and he certainly did not see infrared or ultraviolet.

It is interesting that you mention epilepsy, though. They accidentally give the man an epileptic seizure while they were testing the electrodes.

Pencil and paper are a good enough memory aid for me, thanks.

I hope that you did not cause people like Christopher Reeve to suffer with well intentioned but false promises that we would soon be able to replace the damaged tissues of his nervous system with artificial substitutes. This could have caused ignorant legislators to waste public funds by allocating scarce resources for pie-in-the-sky projects.

30 JAN 07, 2211 hrs, GMT.

Answer 5

I have long heard that we do not use all of our brains. I think this is a myth. My personal opinion is that the "unused" portion of our brain is used for memory. Everything you know and remember must be stored someplace. Just because only a portion of the brain shows activity when we are awake, doesn't necessarily mean the rest of it servers no purpose.

Answer 6

Of course we don't use 100% of our brain at once! How could we use the part we use to swim, with the part we use to play the piano, with the part we use to sing, with the part we use to drive, with the part we use to walk, with the part we use to do maths, with the parts we use socialising, all at once?

That's daft. It's like saying you would have so much more space in your house if you could be in all the rooms at the same time, or musing on how rich you'd be if you could spend the same 100 dollars on everything you wanted to buy, not have to choose between things.

Sorry, dude, it doesn't work.

Answer 7

I think the next evolution of mankind will be cyborg. I don't foresee Borg being like the ruthless Borg of Star Trek though. I expect the cyborgs to be strongly governed by strict morals and ethics.

Answer 8

No, I don't need/want an artificial . Because until my death I want to check out my nature-gifted brain capacity with great enthuasism, not forcefully hampering it with artificial hazards(Though at this moment, I am using Internet, the screen of computer sometimes feel me irritated)

Answer 9

No need for anything "artificial" pure consciousness has the capability for everything within in it. Many spiritual masters discovered this many thousands of years ago. Look at genius, it didn't come from a limited place.There is a lot within ourselves we have yet to explore..

Here are some articles on the effects of meditation on changing the brain:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8317

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43006-2005Jan2.html

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=13453&ch=biztech

Answer 10

That would be really cool. You'd be able to get so much more done in a day. Hopefully it would stop some of the really dumb things people do.