our brain is part of our body and it controls mostly all of our actions, the other part of our brain can control things such as our heart beating and more complicated stuff..but can we send a message to our brain to do something? such as heal faster by telling our brain to tell our cells to do something? its hard to explain but if you do understand what im getting at post a response..just curious.
208290
You're referring to mind over matter and/or biofeedback. Anything is possible when it comes to the mind and body. Even science doesn't know our true potential yet. The smartest of humans only ever use approximately 30% of their total brain power. There is so much untapped power in our minds that it will never be assessed in out lifetime.
672518
What exactly do you think a soul is?  What properties does it have?  What part of 'you' resides in the soul? \n\nIf it's postulated that consciousness, or awareness, or sense of self resides in the soul, it's difficult to see how this can be reconciled with the complete oblivion which accompanies general anaesthesia.  How could a straightforward chemical,  injected into the bloodstream, anaesthetise a soul so that it effectively ceases to exist during this time?  If consciousness, in the form of a soul, were some kind of supernatural faculty, it would seem implausible that it could be completely disabled by a chemical. \n\nHow about some of the other things which we regard as essential parts of what makes a person what they are?  How about love, compassion, reason, empathy, memory, conscious thought, character, 'spirituality' and so on? Well, there is really no plausible doubt that all these things are properties of the physical brain.  We can alter all of these properties very simply with alcohol or other drugs, and observe how they change in people who have suffered significant brain damage - Previously placid people become uncontrollably violent, intelligent people become imbeciles, and so on.  Stimulate the brain artificially, and the subject reports corresponding mental activity, e.g. 'religious experiences'.  We can see from brain research that all these things - thought, emotion, sensation, character traits and so on - are correlated with activity in the brain, and some things can be identified with specific areas of the brain. \n\nSo, if all these faculties and characteristics of what we regard as the 'person' reside in the physical brain, as seems to be undeniably the case, and they all cease when the person dies, then what is left to be attributed to a 'soul'?  As far as I can ascertain:  Nothing. If there is no part of us that can continue after death, then there is no 'afterlife'... and if there is no afterlife, then most of religion is null and void.
20607
The human mind is associated with the brain.  The brain tends to use neurons which have previously been used over those which have never been used.  Background assumptions, beliefs, paradigms all tend to prevent new associations with old concepts.
8967
There are a few questions here, let me unravel them from one another:\n\n"How can an object feel pain?" - This is the question of consciousness, and there's not a particularly good answer to it. I'd recommend asking in Philosophy, rather than Physics, to try to get a detailed answer to that question. Also, I'd recommend doing quite a bit of reading.\n\n"Is there a limit to add neurons?" "Nature only gave us 100 billion neurons. Why?" - The very short answer to this is that everything you add to an organism increases the amount of growing it needs to do, and the amount of energy it needs. We already have an incredibly long, incredibly helpless childhood. At some point, the reward for adding more neurons - which is presumably more memory, more pattern-matching ability, or something similar - became less beneficial to survival than the reward for becoming adult and self-sufficient sooner. At that point, there's no reason for the brain to get bigger - it's doing the best that it can.\n\n"Is there a critical point??" - I'd have to say no. What you're asking about is the idea of a disembodied consciousness. If consciousness can exist without a body, then there's no reason to believe that adding more neurons will help. If consciousness requires a body, then there's no way to get beyond the body - more neurons might increase the capabilities of the brain, but not produce a sudden, critical change like the one you describe in nuclear fission.\n\nThe attached wikipedia link may be a good place to begin studying the philosophy of consciousness - it seems like the answers you're looking for might be in that field.\n\nGood luck, and happy learning.
70700
You have your facts a little messed up. The truth is that we use all our brain. However, at any given moment, we are only using about 5% or less of our brain. This is why we can't do a million things at once and why some people have trouble chewing gum and walking at the same time. So while only 5% of our brain is in use at any given moment, there is not a single part of brain that does not perform a function and we do in fact use 100% of our brain throughout the day.
164185
We *can* use 100% of our brain. This is a very strange, but common misconception. All parts of our brain have various functions and all are used. \n\nThe likely source of this myth is the discovery long ago that only about 10% of our neurons are firing at a time. That does not mean only ten percent fire ever, but on average, that is how many fire at any given time.   On that line of thinking, if 100% of our neurons were to fire at once, we would be having a severe seizure.
85922
the brain is capable of processing 400,000 bits of information a second,we process 2000 what does that tell you?consciously trying to solve two difficult problems at once is unlikely.Good Luck
84362
im taking psych 1010 right now, and what we learned is that if you can figure out how the mind and nervous system work we can help figure out why we as people do the things we do. like sudying the nervous system helps explain our reactions, emotions, and studying the parts of the brain helps us to know how we control our speech, motor skills, and many other things. it is kind of a building block for everything else. i hope this helps
242004
Always remember, happiness is a state of the mind...\nwhen we are happy our mind is the one that gives us this feeling of happiness not the heart...-lil bro\n\nIts because of the Hypothalamus in the brain which controls our emotions. I wish I could take it out(or at least the part of it  which controls the emotions which I dunno where)...if only it werent that important...(it controls our whole body!) then we can live without emotions. Now that would be fun.   -me ü
221783
This is the best question I've ever seen.  Thanks so much for asking it!  You will not get the full answer, but it will be very interesting if you keep asking smart people what they think.  I really want to know the answer to this question, and I never thought to ask it myself.\n\nObviously the brain (and possibly the body as well) requires some kind of regenerative process, just like it requires a certain amount of food and water and oxygen.  You can't go too long without either, or else your body will break down.  If you "lose sleep," you suffer - no one gets away with it.  In fact, one of the ways they use to torture prisoners of war nowadays is sleep deprivation.  Even the most hardened killers begin to crack under its effects, physically and psychologically.  \n\nDo trees sleep?  You have to wonder.\n\nI'll let you in on one secret I know that most people do not.  One of the answers to your question is that the unconscious mind has about 1 million times more processing power than the conscious mind.  It would make sense if our body's natural functions require the full force of regulatory calculations that only the unconscious mind can perform.  In other words, if we only used our conscious minds to run our body and brains, we would quickly degenerate and die.  We're nowhere near as smart when awake as we are while asleep.  Unfortunately, the only way to do work (to get food & water) is to be awake, alert, receiving new data, and guiding one's movements.  Then again, we can live for decades in a coma.\n\nThis is such a great question.
434226
Technically, it would be possible, but likely very delicate.  Experiments are underway to assists people with disabilities, and look promising, but the control is done with very coarse setting like "thinking about talking" and "thinking about moving the foot", so that very distinct area of the brain are involved, so that they are easily distinguished in operation. To go beyond that, and be able to control very delicate instrument with high precision like it was one own limb would probably require going in and tapping the nerves directly; picking up the signal though the thickness of the skull and homing to an area that is measured in millimeter -- let alone singling out one neuron -- is asking too much.
328904
when ur in pain the brain sends "stress hormones" to the body, ur heart beats faster as a reaction to the signal. think of ur heart (and other organs) as a life support for the brain.
366193
That's not true.  That's actually a big misconception.  Humans use 100% of their brain.  Even something as simple as scratching your head uses a large percentage of your brain. "When you make a movement, say with your left arm, you unconsciously plan that movement and you are unaware of this planning stage. To make a single voluntary movement, the frontal cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, and premotor cortex are involved. And this is just for one movement. If you factor in everything else that we do at one time, like searching for certain items, listening to and comprehending speech, thinking and planning, memory consolidation, etc., then really, we are doing quite a lot with our brains."\n\nhttp://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html\nhttp://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm\nhttp://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2006/03/only_have_10_of.html\nhttp://www.mercola.com/2004/oct/30/brain_use.htm\nhttp://www.brain-fx.com/2005/11/do_we_really_on.html\nhttp://www.alternativescience.com/no_brainer.htm\nhttp://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s1090374.htm
267420
Okay.  This is a common misconception perpetrated by those wonderful PSAs with David Schwimmer and the likes.\n\nWhen scientists came out with research saying that you only use 20% of their brain, they meant that you only use 10-20% of your brain at any given time.\n\nSomehow, the media grabbed ahold of this and misinterpreted it to mean that you only use 20% of your brain in your lifetime.\n\nHere's how it actually works.  Throughout the course of a given day, you will use 100% of your brain.  Only about 15% or so is electrically active at any given point in time (for the average person).  Certain portions of your brain are active during certain activities, whether it be reading or riding a bike or anything else.\n\nThe magnificent thing about the brain is its efficiency.  If you do not use a set of neurons in the brain, they will disconnect from their neighboring neurons and sometimes die by apoptosis (mostly in development, but this occurs throughout life).  When a neuron pulls away from other neurons, more will extend to make new connections.  This way, the brain is constantly keeping otherwise unused portions used.\n\nSo to answer your question, you are already using 100% of your brain!  The real question here is: how do I use my brain's potential more effectively?\n\nWell, keep healthy, physically and mentally.  Exercise to keep your blood flowing to your brain, feeding it.  Drink water to help this process.  Do mentally stimulating activities: read books, write, paint, think of things!  Meditate!  Train your ability to focus on one thing at a time.  Train your ability to multitask.  Turn off the TV.  Go outside and enjoy nature.  Relax.  Help kids with their homework.  Study something.\n\n~The more you know\n\nlol
331686
The heart simply pumps the blood to supply the brain with "power." The heart cannot live without the brain, and the brain cannot live without the heart. Along these lines of thinking, that the two work in perfect tandem, I believe that is why we say that some emotions come from the heart. \n\nUsually, we associate sentimental or sensual emotions with the heart and knowledge or intelligence/common sense with the brain, when really, they all originate in the brain. But I think it's a great metaphor to indicate emphasis on your feelings when you are trying to communicate how you feel. This heart vs. brain thing seems to be a phenonmenon across cultures and languages. \n\nJust a side note: the ancient egyptians thought that the heart was the main thinking and reasoning organ of the body so this was one of the only organs that they would leave IN the body during mummification. They would extract other organs that they felt weren't necessary for the afterlife (liver, kidneys....and the brain). They thought that the heart was the essential organ so that they could function in the afterlife.
212685
The brain is the organ responsible for thought and other functions.  The mind is the abstract concept that is the culmination of all thoughts, not a physical object.
616223
This is a very interesting topic. It's like how you can hear yourself say something in your mind, but you don't actually hear sound. Or how you see a certain image when your eyes are open (hence, daydream). It's difficult to observe thoughts as they are happening, since the only way to actually formulate an opinion about what we are thinking is to analyze what we remember thinking. It's pretty amazing how our minds work, and what they control. We can't (more accurately, MOST of us can't) voluntarily control the rate of our heart beat, but we can voluntarily control our breathing. Yet, when we are asleep or not paying attention, our brain's nervous system takes over. It's so amazing...\n\nI can go on about this forever! : ) I actually have never heard of the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle but I'll look into it. (After a pause...) My thoughts are telling me to finish typing. ^_^