Only 10% brain power being used because the other 90% used to keep us from being totally evil?

Question

I am someone with a mood disorder, and it occurred to me that it is in fact work to keep myself "normal", which is why i asked the question, to see if anyone else has the same thought

Answer 1

For starters....you know that the whole "ten percent" thing is literally a myth, right? Neuro-biologists have proven, with MRI and CT scans that the human brain does pretty much use *every* part of it at some point during a day, just not all of its parts at once because a) some of those parts are specialized, like with how the occipital lobes at the back of the brain manage visual data, and b) other parts, like the brainstem's management of heart rate and breathing, have to be at least somewhat automatic in order to work out right.

So yeah, that "ten percent" thing works best as a metaphor for thinking more clearly and efficiently with the resources, conscious and unconscious, that we already have. It isn't literal.

But. As for the "to keep us from being totally evil" part, there is some merit to that. As someone with a mood disorder, I can testify from personal experience that keeping my difficulties in check and holding it together *is* in fact *WORK*. It takes an effort for me to not linger in a depressed mood (especially with my recent lack of access to proper medication), more effort to stay focused enough to get fully out of bed and be productive, more effort still to not space out (dissociate), and so on....

And while I may be further out on that continuum than most folks, still, the truth is, even on an ordinary level we do a lot of things *on autopilot* without thinking of them or willing ourselves to do them (brushing our teeth, driving to work, doing laundry) mainly because we rather know at least intuitively that *thinking and willing it through* every step of the way is work.

In other words....the brain burns calories and uses bodily resources just like any other organ, and relative to other primates, we have a LOT of brain.

So, if you do wish to take the more cynical, Platonic view of humanity--that if we leave people to their own devices, they will be evil and run riot and become foul and abusive--then it makes some sense in metabolic terms that it burns calories to *restrain* oneself from that emotional state and to *not* let go and run riot. It would most likely be a case of a *lot* of frontal and pre-frontal lobe brain activity (read: thinking, rational brain) working overtime to restrict impulses from the limbic system (read: primitive, reptile-brain, emotional-instinct brain) in general and the amygdala (master emotional memory center) in particular.

In plain English, while it isn't a 90/10 split as you propose, it is something that *should* show up on an MRI or CT scan if it is something someone has *done* for years and years (read: decades, or all their lives). There ought to be a sign that some parts of the brain are much more active than others, and that the more primitive centers in particular, should be smaller, weaker, and atrophied from lack of use.

I hope this helps, and thanks for your time. ^_^ Good question! Thank you!

Answer 2

We have been created to stay continuously and use that mind-blowing power homestead of an organ for eternity. this is guy who has dumbed down. it fairly is why have been born and use purely 10% of this is capacity.

Answer 3

that was what people used to believe. but research shown that we use the whole brain instead of only 10 %

Answer 4

Actually, it's not true. We use way more than that percentage. Can't remember the figure, but it's like 60%, I think, or something like that.