Steel Notes Magazine
November 2016
Alessia Bastianelli –
Italy
Venice 11.7.2016
Be smart! Use your brain!
Today, I happened to read about the theory
that we use only a small part of our brains,
approximately 10%, whereas if we could
make use of all its resources, we could have
unimaginable capacity. According to this
theory, if we learn to use the other parts of the
brain, which are technically inactive, we
could take remarkable advantage of both
reasoning and our thoughts. But that’s not all:
We could even benefit from skills such as
telekinesis (the capacity to move objects with
thought) or extrasensorial perceptions. Some
have attributed this theory to Einstein; others
trace this proposal to the theory of “energy
reserve,” proposed between the late 1800s and
the beginning of the last century by two
Harvard psychologists, William James and
Boris Sidis. The story goes that they based
their idea on observing Sidis’s child, who had
impressive math skills and a fairly high IQ—
in other words, a gifted child. Based on this
experience, William James wrote in his 1908
book The Energies of Men, “We are making
use of only a small part of our possible mental
and physical resources.” It seems that this
claim was revived by writer Dale Carnegie in
his essay “How to Win Friends and Influence
People,” mistakenly attributing to James the
precise percentage value of 10%.
Although our intellectual capacity can grow
throughout life—through education, hobbies,
work, or just everyday life—the myth that we
use only 10% of our potential is lacking
scientific evidence. Neuroscience has shown
several times, with irrefutable evidence, that it
is not plausible that 90% of our brain is not
being used. First, if we didn’t use our brain
72
Steel Notes Magazine
www.steelnotesmagazine.com
cells, they would tend to atrophy, as happens
with all the other parts of the human body.
This is what occurs, for example, when
someone is affected by a stroke (i.e., when a
more or less extensive area of the brain is
deprived of blood flow and, therefore,
oxygen, resulting in consequential damage,
often irreparable).
In addition, although some aspects of the
functioning of the human brain are still poorly
understood, scientists agree on the fact that
the brain can be divided into different areas.
Decades of research through neuroimaging
procedures (functional magnetic resonance
imaging or positron emission tomography)
have allowed us to obtain a complete mapping
of the brain. To each of the areas scientists
have attributed precise functions (language,
movement, thinking, memory, etc.). They
have observed that damage to a specific area
of the brain produces damage to the
associated function. Thus, clinical case
studies have shown that, when damaged, even
very small areas of the brain (for example,
following a stroke) can cause serious defects.