The human brain is like an advanced remote control

i thought these two threads should reference eachother.. so here
www.abovetopsecret.com...

They say we only use 10% of our brain. That may be true or not. I believe everything we see, read, touch, smell, think is in our brains until we die. I believe that is what makes us who we are. While we may not be able to recall everything it is still there and makes us who we are. I believe the day is coming when more of our brain will be utilized. An age of enlightenment as it were. I myself experienced something amazing. I had a large knot on my wrist for several years. It did not hurt but gradually got to about 1/2 inch high. I finally decided to see a doctor and have it cut out. I was scared to death as i had never had so much as a broken bone. Surgery was simply frightening to me. That night as i laid in bed i kept thinking about the knot and repeated in my mind over and over as i went to sleep for my body to dissolve it. I repeated over and over: Come on white corpuscles eat that knot away! When i woke up the next morning the knot that had been there for years was completely gone. No sign of it ever being there at all. 25 years later it is still gone and i could not tell you which wrist it was even on. So i believe our brains can control the chemicals in our bodies to some extent and they are capable of much much more than we can imagine. The age of enlightenment may be near or maybe it is already here and we just don't realize it yet.

Originally posted by jimmiec
They say we only use 10% of our brain. That may be true or not.

It's not true, it is a myth.

Originally posted by halfoldman
I think you're arguing for a soul or "spirit mind" that exists outside the brain.

It's very compelling, and impossible to prove as right or wrong.

I'd say it cannot be proven, although many such puzzling questions try.

We know that certain parts of the physical brain are responsible for certain functions, like sight or movement.
When those parts of the brain are damaged then the physical function ceases i.e. we might go blind or lame.

When the brain is very injured there is no evidence of a soul: no consciousness, no speech, no nothing.

So it's also possible that the spirit outside the body is just a trick of the brain.

Or consider this , those parts of the brain are only responsible for decoding a certain type of stimuli from the main sense that activates the brain. Just like a wifi decoder that decodes different signals from the transmission. If a certain part of the material brain gets damaged , then of course the material brain is unable to decode/process those signals hence this particular sense/abilities is damaged.

So it all depends on the point of view I guess untill proven one way or another

reply to post by neoholographic

If the remote control were isolated then we would have to assume that it's the remote control changing the channel. Without a way to link the remote to something else the simplest explanation must suffice. What you're suggesting is comparable to putting the horse ahead of the cart. Until you or somebody else can uncover and empirically prove a link exists between our brain and "something else" then we must assume that our brain is the source of the controlling mechanism.

It's a chain of evidences that leads to the source. Prove the link goes further!

I know instincts give you a powerful urge to believe in the supernatural mind, but.... please. Keep one foot on the ground, if not the other too. Our world needs good information more than ever.

reply to post by jimmiec

We may only use 10% of the brain at any single moment, but that's because the brain has limited energy to work with. In fact, using more might be detrimental to its condition.

I read a study that our brain predicts to conserve energy. This interrelates.

IMHO, the true power of the brain is in our imagination. Some of my strangest moments occur when I'm half asleep. For example, the other day I was half awake and I heard myself say "Small bangs inside big bangs." And then I said "The sea of reality reverses itself." I was thinking about the big bang. Now I know it means nothing since my mind was haflway into a dreamstate, but it's a great way to be inspired and to, for a brief moment, break away from the executive mind.

Originally posted by neoholographic
The material brain needs a user/observer just like the remote control.

Will you agree that nothing is perfect? You press the wrong buttons on a TV remote and get a channel that you didn't want. This means that you are looking at the wrong channel. How many times in your life have you done this? If you can answer even 'Just once', then your theory of an external observer falls apart. And here's why:



This adorable jungle girl has never left the Amazon. She has never seen a city skyscraper, a fire hydrant, or a Ferris wheel.

Not even ONCE in her life will your external 'Observer' accidentally give this little girl a dream or a thought of city life, of playing video games, of microwaving popcorn, of watching cartoons, of going to a high school dance... This girl will only think, dream, and experience jungle life.

Your External Observer has to handle the thoughts of seven BILLION people, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and he/she/it will NEVER make such a mistake?

Not possible.

The materialism of neuroscience shouldn't really come as a surprise...? Of course this is the case since material interactions are the only thing we can measure and provide proof for.

While the idea is stimulating, ultimately I see no point for there being a 'consciouss field' (or what ever we'd want to call it) controlling the brain.
Having knowledge of computers in general helps understand how the brain can easily be seen as a 'mere' biological computer. It's hard because the numbers are so large, but try to think of this; ~100 billion neurons (200 by some estimates), around 7000 synapses per each neuron, and over 20 primary neurotransmitters; you cant exactly multiply all these together but it should give you a fair idea of the computional potential of the brain. More than enough to support self-awareness and other functions.

I recommend a book called 'Brain wars' by Mario Beauregard, deals with this subject and is a good read for both believers and skeptics.