Emily Nguyen Week 11– Power of the Brain
Emily Nguyen
Week 11
Power of the Human Brain
Surfing through Google for this week's blog topic, I came across the commonly asked question of, "What is the most powerful part of the human body?" Answers varied widely, ranging from teeth enamel to the tongue muscle. Of course, interpretations of power could be based on physical strength, which also has its own sub categories, but I decided to write about the human brain. For the sake of making this blog post short, sweet, and quick in order to tend to my POAS assignment, I will reach the minimum word limit through filler words and interesting facts about the power of the human brain.
The human brain is arguably the most powerful part of the body, given that it is responsible for our actions, several bodily functions, and is the command center for our nervous system. This wrinkly organ is the drive behind several masterminds and brilliant individuals today. Its capacity to store information is unlimited. Some even say that it is more powerful than supercomputers. Neurologist Marwan Sabbagh says, "the brain is the most complex thing in the universe." Shockingly, it can even produce "enough power to light a 25 watt bulb."
I've sometimes pondered about the brain, wondering about its true potential. If there are no limits to knowledge and intelligence, who knows what it can accomplish? Or rather, what are the capabilities of the mind? Of course, the mind and brain are not interchangeable– the mind utilizes the brain. The term, "mind over matter" truly reflects this.
Week 11
Power of the Human Brain
Surfing through Google for this week's blog topic, I came across the commonly asked question of, "What is the most powerful part of the human body?" Answers varied widely, ranging from teeth enamel to the tongue muscle. Of course, interpretations of power could be based on physical strength, which also has its own sub categories, but I decided to write about the human brain. For the sake of making this blog post short, sweet, and quick in order to tend to my POAS assignment, I will reach the minimum word limit through filler words and interesting facts about the power of the human brain.
The human brain is arguably the most powerful part of the body, given that it is responsible for our actions, several bodily functions, and is the command center for our nervous system. This wrinkly organ is the drive behind several masterminds and brilliant individuals today. Its capacity to store information is unlimited. Some even say that it is more powerful than supercomputers. Neurologist Marwan Sabbagh says, "the brain is the most complex thing in the universe." Shockingly, it can even produce "enough power to light a 25 watt bulb."
I've sometimes pondered about the brain, wondering about its true potential. If there are no limits to knowledge and intelligence, who knows what it can accomplish? Or rather, what are the capabilities of the mind? Of course, the mind and brain are not interchangeable– the mind utilizes the brain. The term, "mind over matter" truly reflects this.
https://bgr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/brain.jpg?quality=82&strip=all
It's really interesting how one question can have so many different answers. There are so many different ways you can look at the question of "what is the most powerful part of the body?" If we look at the question in the form of what part of the body is most powerful physically, people could say our arms, legs, etc. That one way of looking at the question itself has its different answers. That being said, thinking of it mentally, or intellectually, majority would say the brain. It's really interesting how powerful our brain is even though sometimes we fail to believe the true potential it holds.
ReplyDeleteI wish you very good luck on finishing your POAS paper, Emily. The brain is such a complex part of our body and it is what makes every individual unique. The fact that we have surgeries to replace so many things about our bodies from organs to our appearance, makes me value my brain a lot more because it is the one thing I cannot really change even if I wanted to. It is ironic how we have days to appreciate different events in history, but we never have holidays to celebrate crucial and powerful parts of our being such as brains. We should definitely have a brain appreciation holiday. Not only will it give us another holiday so we have extra time to work on POAS, it will be a good reminder to value ourselves more.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the mind is potent as it can complete extraordinary feats. For example, all of the human achievements like the telephone, electricity, and airplanes can be pointed back to the human mind. That being said, one has to learn how to control their mind and remove negative thoughts to reap the benefits of having a strong mind. If one cannot convince themselves that they are capable, they will fail to achieve their goals despite their skill and effort. Anyways, good luck with your POAS assignment!
ReplyDeleteHey Emily,
ReplyDeleteI would really like to see a human brain power twenty-five light bulbs. The brain is like the universe we cannot see. The more we learn about it, the vaster it seems. If I start pondering how the brain works, I would never be able to stop. If there was only one God in the universe, I would imagine it to be a brain capable of harnessing one hundred percent of its mental power. Would it have a singular mind, or be capable of fueling millions? How would those minds perceive existence? Maybe one day someone will find out. For now, neuroscientists can keep studying the brain, phycologists can keep studying the mind, and humans can keep expanding the power we can harness from both.
It is hard to comprehend that the human brain was completely made via natural selection. We went from individual molecules to a highly complex neural network that has completely transformed the Earth. Without the human brain, the Earth would look much different. Primates and other organisms (with smaller brains) have a minimal impact on our world, but the human brain is different. We're also different than other human-like species, like Neanderthals and Homo habilis. Our advantage, the ability to communicate, allowed us to win the evolutionary battle. The brain is arguably one of the most powerful biological weapons.
ReplyDeleteHey Emily, I love how you started off your blog, but also, it is absolutely insane to contemplate how a series of neurons can possibly have the power to interpret and analyze so many complex visuals and ideas. It's even more disconcerting that we only truly use an extremely small percentage of our brain. I think another interesting extension to the argument you make is the power that lies in learning and understanding more about the brain. With the amount of power that the brain holds, scientists gain access to some of that power with further experiments that allow us to identify further the inner workings of the brain and how scientists can exploit this knowledge in issues like smart prosthetics.
ReplyDeleteHey Emily! The question of the most powerful part of the body is such a complicated one because it could be interpreted strength-wise or knowledge-wise. Clearly, in terms of ability and thoughts, the brain has more power than any other organ. I feel like there is a certain element of mystery regarding the brain to the common man or woman. Unless you are a neurologist, your brain holds undiscovered information and power that we fail to recognize. It essentially dictated most of our decisions up till now. We need to respect our brains more.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! Your take on power is quite interesting. I have not thought about the power of the brain or the strength of humans. Our bodies are so complicated and the brain's neural systems are so intricate. It is a wonder that our brain is able to control our motor movements as well as the rest of our organs. I would also really want to see a brain light a lightbulb, but I'm sure that would look quite appalling.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily, thinking too much about the human brain and mind sometimes gives me a headache—mainly because there is still so much left to research. The human brain is a magnificent, amazing, powerful thing, but researchers have barely scratched the surface of it. In psychology, we have actually learned a lot about the differences between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, how and why we express emotions, how we store memories and later retrieve them, as well as what happens when we sleep, dream or die, but most of what we learn is composed of theories.
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