Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site maxvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!whuxl!houxm!mtuxo!pegasus!maxvax!wfl 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 Article-I.D.: maxvax.190 Posted: Mon Jul 1 16:52:41 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 06:36:36 EDT References: <542@petsd.UUCP> <1477@bbncca.ARPA>, <829@oddjob.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Holmdel NJ Lines: 25 [] > 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