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From: wfl@maxvax.UUCP (w linke)
Newsgroups: net.sci
Subject: Re: darwinism
Message-ID: <190@maxvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Jul-85 16:52:41 EDT
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Posted: Mon Jul  1 16:52:41 1985
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> I don't know about the % of gray matter "normally" used, but one
> installment of either the PBS series "The Mind" or another Nova
> program provided the following startling findings:
> 
> Using recently developed (tomographic?) techniques for scanning
> the brain in detail along various physical variables, researchers
> found that a number of people who suffered massive brain damage
> at birth or early in life but who display not only above average
> abilities but high general intelligence (unlike the "calculating
> idiots") are using less than 10%, in some cases less than 5%,
> of their brain mass: the rest is clinically or effectively dead!

I have the same problem with my computer.  When my programs are running,
only a small fraction of the total mass actually does useful work
(just some copper and bits of silicon).  The rest of it
(case, pc boards, etc.) just sits there!

Perhaps a more relevant question is: how much of the brain's structure
is dedicated to intelligence, as opposed to physical and chemical support?
The brain is a highly structured organ, and I think it's misleading to
imagine that all of it could contribute to intelligence.

				W. F. Linke