The brain is an organ whose sole function is to make sense of the environment around it. Through evolution the human brain has evolved five senses that we know of, a cycle to recharge it, a storage space for memory, emotions, and probably more we do not know about. The truth is, we really don't know much about the brain or even why we do things like dream. If something works for the brain it is still used, passed on through DNA. For example, apes get greedy of other males then angry so they act out in aggression to fight off the other male. People are past this and if anything the general population will just get a little jealous over mating competition. I have a theory that we can literally speed up the rate our brains evolve. The most valuable time for taking in knowledge in a persons life is at their youngest. If we can teach our children to overcome things like greed and anger as they get older they wont do it so much. They would be more conscious of their actions, emotions, and thoughts. With their brains producing less of the chemical that makes you angry, their brain will need less synapses for such emotion since it is happening less. We only use so much of our brain, I believe our brain comprehends more than it allows us access too. With valuing children's education far more than we do now, every generation would bring us more access to what our brain absorbs on top of evolving the way we want it too. The hardest and most grueling part would be the first few decades of getting children to become conscious of their subconscious and we really wouldn't see any changes in the brain for a long time, but once we do start to see a change i think it would dramatically take off after that point. Basically i believe if we teach children to control their emotions and not let them effect their thoughts and decisions, they will be more rational adults who will raise more rational children.
We're way past waiting around for kids to learn (not to mention, who's going to decide on the right mix of creationist science and who is going to fund education when there are scrumptious weapons to buy): we're manipulating genes directly. Oryx and Crake
The conscious mind uses somewhere between 2-10% of the bran's capacity. The unconscious mind uses 100%. It makes sense that human evolution will involve the conscious mind figuring out how to gain access to the entire 100%. The practical problem with using the theoretical 100% capacity, is if you don't fully understand how the natural brain works, in terms of needs and limits, you can mess up the brain. The current proportions 10 to 1, may be needed to protect the conscious mind from itself, so it does not blow the engine. An analogy, for the current time, might be like a max speed control device, that is place on a car, so you don't blow the engine, But as humans learn to gain access and be sensitive to the practical limits, we might learn to push it to the max but without destruction to the brain. For example, there are rare cases of the little lady picking up the car to help someone pinned under the car. If you could consciously trigger that, there would a temptation to do it too much and burn out the brain. You would need to get beyond egocentricity and think in terms of the overall machine, so you can budget this activity with minimal damage.
No, we use what we need when we need to. No, because it only remembers what you want it to, what you don't need it just discards away but sometimes their are remnants of stuff that we don't really need. They learn those things from others that they meet or see like on TV and who they work for or learn from like teachers. Suppressing emotions isn't a very smart idea for that's what controlling them means. Understanding what those emotions are and how to deal with them is a much better way to handle that.
Orcot, my brain has probably already fallen out. Buddha, im not saying we need to suppress emotions, we need to teach children to recognize things like anger and overcome its fogging effects on our thinking. Yeah you can argue that we teach it to kids in school already and with t.v but I think a therapeutic elementry school would have a more substantial effect.
No that is Lamarckian* thinking. Social structures can and do learn from experiences and evolve, (pass learned improvements to next generation) but not brains. * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism
How much is that? What does the rest of your brain do if you don't "use" it? What does "use your brain" even mean?
Please read my thread about increasing the pace of our evolution in Human sciences. Turning early schools into therapeutic establishments that teaches children how to recognize their emotions, think rationally, Basic number math patterns (not math itself,) Vocabulary and speech therapy, and overall finding the best individual interest of each particular child whether it be physics, music, or business. Although their will always be opportunity for change of interest.
