As a psychiatrist, I regularly get asked if it’s true that we only use 10% of our brain. The question is, on the one hand, ridiculous and, on the other, perhaps not so crazy after all.
The answer to whether 10% use of the brain is a silly or wise question to ask depends on how one defines ‘using’ one’s brain. Since the brain is, by far, the most energy-intensive organ of the body, consuming 20% of calories from what we eat while weighing a mere 2% of body weight, it would be evolutionarily very expensive to be in possession of a big brain that sat around idle most of the time. And, even if it were to be somehow idle, what would that mean? As it turns out, the brain uses about the same amount of energy irrespective of whether one is sleeping, awake and resting, concentrating and thinking hard, or engaged in physical labor.
So, of course, we don’t and can’t only use 10% of our brain. Since through most of our time as a species, calories from food have been hard to come by and obtaining food was both calorie-intensive and dangerous, if humans did not gain more on average from a big brain than that big brain’s cost (in calories and risk), then humans would quickly evolve to lose brain size. And modern humans have a somewhat smaller brain per pound of body weight than did earlier Homo sapiens from just a few thousand years ago. Perhaps the ease of modern living and lessened selective pressures are at least partly to blame.
On the other hand, if we think about this ‘10% brain use’ question differently, then one just might be able to say that it is, sadly, an accurate reflection of our reality.
To get to an explanation, let me introduce two words with their associated concepts. Ability is that which an organism can do due to its knowledge, skill, body size and shape, and other physical properties. Capacity is that which an organism could do given its potential to learn knowledge, develop skills, and have a body that can adapt to carrying out certain actions. Capacity is the boundary of what is possible given each individual’s constraints, whereas ability is what the individual can do right now whenever the situation calls for it.
Our range and depth of capacities are vast for any one individual and even more so for us as a species as a whole. Our abilities are also staggering in their variety, number, and level of skill that must be obtained and deployed.
So, the question of whether we’re only using 10% of our brains can make sense if we rephrase it as, “Have I developed more than 10% of the abilities that my human capacities afford me?” Of course, our capacities and abilities don’t only rely on our brain and our use of it. They involve our entire organism and how it is situated in our world. But we’ll put this caveat to one side to answer the question as given.
In this phrasing of the question, it is likely true that, indeed, we are unlikely to have developed our full range of actual abilities from within the range of possible capacities. In fact, perhaps we only develop 1% of the abilities or, even, only 0.1% of what is possible. Perhaps the answer is unknowable. After all, we can’t live parallel lives, with each of our iterations developing a different subset of abilities or skills that we can then compile to ascertain the full range of that which each of us is capable.
Of course, many abilities that we can develop if we wanted to are of no use or interest to us. For instance, I don’t care to learn how to pole vault, climb trees (at least at this point in my life), play (the card game) Bridge, tie the knots that every sailor of sailing ships had to learn, and many thousands of other abilities.
On the other hand, there are many abilities I would like to develop but haven’t, some because they would help my long-term wealth, some because they would allow me to engage in more fun activities with friends (like playing golf), and some because I’ve had a life-long interest in learning to do (like playing the piano).
Why am I writing this to you today?
It’s my way of reminding you and me that no matter our age or life stage, now is an auspicious time to commit to learning a new skill, to turn a latent capacity into a real ability.
What’s at the top of your list to learn to do during the second half of this year?
Thanks and take care,
Dr. Jack
Language Brief
“Learning is a gift. Even when pain is your teacher.” – Maya Watson
“Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci
“Excellence is not a skill. It’s an attitude.” – Ralph Marston
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“My grandmother taught me that happiness is both a skill and a decision, and you are responsible for the outcome.” – Helen McCrory
“Learn only in order to create.” – Friedrich Schelling
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