If everybody’s brain is the same size then why are some people cleverer than others? Child at Brighton Science Festival Gross Show, Feb 15

2/22/2015

Bradford C Gross

3/4/2015 08:50:18 pm

If we all have the same brain, why are some people smarter. Brilliant question worth looking in to. Has to do with genetics, nature, nurture, neurons and the great unknown., me thinks. The mind is a muscle. Some get more of a workout. Some have a propensity for certain skills, ie music, language, sport. I know my wife speaks Urdu although she never speaks it with me. Mostly because I don't. When she does speak Urdu, I'm like "who are you!?". The mind is an incredible thing. Neuroscientist think we only use a small bit of our brains anyway( insert American joke here...) potential is the key, more than any other factor. Potential.

Memory and skill is a complex web of mental decisions. I like drumming because I like to try do do as many things at once as possible. I've always been that way. But that might not be what the gig calls for. Keep it simple. It serves a need for me. But I'm no Buddy Rich ( he was an amazing jazz drummer incase that didn't click). The Beatle John Lennon wrote a bunch of good songs, his son Julian Lennon didn't. Nature? Nurture? Genetics? What I love about the brain is how much it does for you without asking. Breathing, dreaming, digesting, learning. It is a supercomputer in your head, your very own. It doesn't ask for much yet it gives so much in return.

Some new learning require synapses to fire and neurons to grow. For new born babies everything is new. For teens, everything is confusing. For old people with dementia, everything is new. The brain constantly modifies and processes new learning. The key is to constantly feed your brain new info while letting your brain digest learned info. Make sure you drink plenty of water. And constantly challenge yourself. The most important aspect of being smarter is wanting to be. I know people who could go on about military history, astronomy and quantum physics for hours but couldn't make a lasagna. And people that can't find their keys but remember what they had for lunch on Feb. 11th 1981. The brain likes well rounded activities. Both physical and mental. You can't spend all your time crushing numbers. But you can't just be an adrenalin junkie either. Balance. Exercise. Problem solving. Fun. Rest. Repeat.

Einstein loved having a dull job at the patent office. Gave him time to think. Worked out a lot of theories in his head, doodling on the back of a mislaid patent. E=MC2. Some people are born with potential they don't use. Other, born from very little potential go on to do great things. Who is a Steven Hawking, a Martin Luther King, a Evelyne Glennie, Oprah, George Lucas, Abraham Lincoln? How to they differ from a killer, an abuser, a loser, a drug addict, a depressive, a loner? Potential. You have the potential to be who you want, where you want, what you want no matter what anyone says or does differently. You are your own canvas to paint one beautiful lifetime on. You have the same brain as me, and I you. One person picks up a brush and paints an X. Another ... the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Potential.

MargaritaSmith link

4/13/2016 06:29:16 pm

lol, your son is cute, and dad is very funny

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