Does the brain have extreme potential

Submitted by frameworkgenerous t3_zvh790 in Futurology

The brain and the mind in general are extremely interesting things. The brain that we have is essential a bio computer capable of evolving and growing. We still know next to nothing about the brain, all its purposes, and how it operates. We learn new things about it everyday. The mind does so many strange and impossible things, this leaves people confused and wondering how it's possible. which begs the question Do you think that our brain has extreme potential and power? Things that come to mind are special/ Psychic abilities and things that generally considered sci-fi.

This would be a two part question

  1. Do you think our brain/mind has extreme potential and capacity
  2. If you think it does how far in the future do you think till we harness it?
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Heap_Good_Firewater t1_j1px4bp wrote

The mind doesn’t do “impossible” things. We just have an incomplete grasp of how the brain works.

We would know by now if the brain had a capacity for psychic ability. There is no such thing, as all psychics that have been tested have been exposed as frauds.

There is no reason to suspect we are not already using our brains to their fullest potential.

We may be able to enhance our brains in the future through drugs, implanted chips, or gene editing.

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Phrii t1_j1rrhn0 wrote

Let me stop you right there. The reason you have to suspect you're not already using your brain to its fullest effects comes in the form of being right handed or left handed.

If you are right handed I'd like you to take a minute and in your head try to think about tracing a word with your left hand in real time. You will find it's a lot easier to imagine yourself writing with your strong hand than it is to imagine yourself writing with your weak hand.

I suggest to you that the parts of your brains that would be wired to your weak hand is nearly completely atrophied as opposed to the parts of your brain that wire themselves to your strong hand.

Furthermore I suggest that some people's brains are wired to their strong hands so well that it might be by way of quantum entanglement in the same way that your Bluetooth headphones work.

It could very well be that if you can get both parts of your brain equally entangled to each of your hemispheres that what we call psychic might just be the basic entangled state that give us our Bluetooth tech which could easily have been marketed as magic to our forefathers.

I have spoken

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dewayneestes t1_j1rwrrk wrote

Now that I know my Bluetooth headphones use quantum entanglement I feel a little better about the price.

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Duende555 t1_j1sowx5 wrote

I mean this with all sincerity, but you might be having a little bit of a manic episode dude. This is not a normal way to talk or treat people.

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Phrii t1_j1spif9 wrote

You definitely sound serious..I'm definitely not normal but I think you're reading disrespect where there is none. I understand consensus is that we are not leaving untapped potential on the table. I rebuke that consensus with nothing but love for the people who purvey it.

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Duende555 t1_j1suh57 wrote

Okay but seriously I do have friends that occasionally have issues with manic episodes and lofty ideas and grandiose speech can be huge indicators.

As to untapped brain potential… sure. Probably not in a science fiction psychic powers kinda way though. More in the regular blood pressure control and better nutrition and societal conditions would make it a lot easier for everyone and lead to a lot healthier brains.

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Phrii t1_j1syey6 wrote

So if I have lofty ideas coupled with grandiose speech, that gives you the right to step to me as though I were being disrespectful? One might say THAT is no way to treat people.

Ain't nothing fictional about quantum entanglement, Mate.

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Duende555 t1_j1syq0t wrote

Not stepping. Expressing actual concern. Manic episodes can destroy lives. But no worries. Take care of yourself.

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Shot-Job-8841 t1_j1p697i wrote

“ We still know next to nothing about the brain, all its purposes, and how it operates.”

If you’d like I can post articles with at least a dozen Doctors of Neuroscience who disagree.

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Shloopadoop t1_j1p7x0x wrote

Well, this is a tricky semantic issue, because it is both true that we know a lot about the brain and that there is a lot we do not yet know. For instance, we still don’t know precisely how memory works. We know a lot about what areas are activated when memories are stored and recalled, and we know a lot of facts about memory, like what causes things to transfer from short term to long term memory, but we can’t diagram the literal process of storing, maintaining, and retrieving memories like we can describe for a computer. There is a ton of complex collaboration between areas of the brain and we can’t “see” how the data is being managed and processed. Does that mean we don’t know what kind of general limits the brain has? I can’t speak to that, but I’d imagine most neuroscientists would agree there are some limits we could reasonably assume about the brain’s capabilities from what we already know, and that would include things like superpowers. In a sense, the way our brains process information is already a superpower compared to where machine learning and AI are currently.

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pzzia02 t1_j1pdcpn wrote

I thought mememories are stored as electrical patterns in your neurons when you say drink pepsi your brain sent a coded signal with that taste that is remembered and any time you drink pepsi itll refire that old signal again

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Arrasor t1_j1ppsxi wrote

Not that simple, a memory consists of many parts. Let's go with your pepsi. The taste, the texture, your perception of pepsi being good or bad... are all stored in different parts of your brain. How all those parts are assembled into a complete memory is what we don't know yet.

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Gilded-Mongoose t1_j1r40b6 wrote

Right. And like…pleasure. It’s a series of chemicals sent to our brain telling us that it’s “good” - but how the hell do we actually process and experience it as such!? Both that and things like itches. What is it that makes that difference between understanding something as a signal of “yes this is a good thing” or “an itch” vs actually experiencing the thing and knowing what to do?

I WISH I could simply experience pain or discomfort on an objective level, like a car light going on - but something about it is just too subjective. What is that “thing” on a biological / neurological level beyond the base mechanisms?

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tamponinja t1_j1t6j0x wrote

Phd neuroscience here. Different neurotransmitter systems are used to distinguish these sensations. Sometimes singularly and sometimes in concert with others. For one pleasurable experiences take place via the mesolimbic dopamine system. This system is used in collaboration with other sensory inputs to distinguish X = good.

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Computer_Sci t1_j1sbaus wrote

Pretty sure they do know lol.

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Arrasor t1_j1sbtg9 wrote

Can you show me where you got your pretty sure from? This is actually part of my last semester, and all the sources and books I had to read had this listed as either under debate, unsure or in need of further research.

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tamponinja t1_j1t5m4l wrote

Doctor of neuroscience here. Yea I disagree with this. Although the brain is still pretty complex and we still have A LOT to learn about it.

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ProphecyRat2 t1_j1r7mcb wrote

Telepathy is real. Its just not talked about out loud.

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frameworkgenerous OP t1_j1p6eoz wrote

Yea if you would kind enough to drop them I will read them

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Jfox8 t1_j1q4jve wrote

How about you show scientific articles showing we know “next to nothing about the brain?” You make it sound like it’s fact, how about you back that statement up? There is tons of research in this area and it would take you two seconds to find articles supporting that fact.

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MrEmptySet t1_j1qvw6f wrote

I think our minds have extreme potential in the sense that human intelligence has done incredible things and profoundly changed the entire planet.

I also think our minds have extreme potential in the sense that they seem to be much, much more efficient than any modern computer at many tasks, to the point that it seems there must be something about the way brains function which we have yet to grasp well enough to be able to make an artificial analogue.

However, I definitely do not think that our minds have some untapped, out-there potential that we have yet to discover, such as psychic powers, extrasensory perception, etc. And I don't find the concept very interesting beyond fantasy stories. Human minds are amazing enough as-is that they don't need secret superpowers.

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MrWillM t1_j1tis2v wrote

We can generalize and have intuition about tasks or situations, computers can’t really do that very well but will probably be able to soon. They’re just way better than us at solving logic equations.

In other words, we still have to tell computers the questions we want them to solve and then they can solve those questions (and ones structured like them) faster and easier than us. Computers aren’t going to ‘think’ in subjective terms to come to conclusions based on past experiences or do things like come up with questions.

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Cascascap t1_j1r2in0 wrote

There's some incredible brain functions that some extraordinary people have, like the ability to perform insane calculations or having perfect memory. We don't really know what makes these people special, but the potential for it is there.

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BOOaghost t1_j1rdu5v wrote

Is the orchestra living inside the radio?

Is the internet stored on your smartphone?

Is the totality of imagination, psychedelic trips, dreamscapes, daydreams, fantasy, religious vision, every unwritten book etc stored in the brain?

We are receivers and transmitters.

Our daily bandwidth is throttled.

Consume psylocibin and ask to see more.

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akapoad t1_j1stkl9 wrote

This is such an excellent visualization.

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Chemical_Estate6488 t1_j1rhr48 wrote

It’s not essentially a bio compute, and we harness our brains just fine right now

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CaptainCAPSLOCKED t1_j1so41g wrote

I think that we are eventually going to reach a point where we reach the full potential of silicon computers and start developing biological computers.

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re-animatore t1_j1tb2fj wrote

I've learned from my past mistakes that I'm probably very dumb.

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FPSGamer48 t1_j1wz12j wrote

When I was working with a neurologist to help with my anxiety disorder, she hooked up electrodes to my head and turned on a black and white TV. With enough concentration, I could turn the TV to color mode. That was like magic to me. So I’d say that’s pretty amazing.

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skymoods t1_j1r0o37 wrote

brains are like computers. some are used for porn and video games, some are used for advanced research & education, some are used for social media and fake news. it's as powerful as the user programs it to be.

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thechosenronin t1_j1p8y50 wrote

The brain does have potential to access certain abilities as you say. Mostly related to precognition, intuition, and creativity. As far as I know retention of the sexual fluids for long periods of time (months) is the only proven way to get to that point though. I have personal (though limited) experience with this and can vouch for it. Many others say the same if you google the topic. There are books on this specific topic as well.

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NocashCV t1_j1prtj8 wrote

Sexual fluids? What u talking about?

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Edraitheru14 t1_j1qqn3g wrote

The idea that being unable to hook up gives him extraordinary abilities is the only thing keeping him from incel-land. Leave him be.

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SaintLouisduHaHa t1_j1q0l51 wrote

Can I buy you a drink? Perhaps a glass of grain alcohol and rain water?

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PupJayceColt t1_j1pqpng wrote

Can you drop some article or book titles out of genuine curiosity?

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