The Beautiful Mind

The human mind is an amazing thing.  Mysterious.  Complex. 

It's a common axiom that we only use 10% of our brain's capacity.  Look at the research and you'll see a passionate debate over that number (most think 10% is too low), but the fact is that our brains have extraordinary untapped potential. 

How much can we learn about the human brain, though, by considering those whose brains are extraordinary?  I consider it a fascinating area of study, so I thought I would present three such cases:

Kim Peek
If you've never heard the story of the original "Rain Man", it's worth your while.  Kim Peek was a true treasure of a man who passed away late last year (December 19).  He could speed-read a book by reading the left page with his left eye and right page with his right eye at the same time and retained, it is estimated, over 98% of everything he read.  The norm is closer to 45%.



Jacob Barnett
Jacob is a 12-year-old whose IQ exceeds that of Einstein.  He enrolled at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) at the ripe old age of 8 to take advanced astrophysics classes.

Here, he takes on Calculus 2 concepts.  Warning:  This video is not for the feint of heart or any of us who, you know, struggle with Calculus 2.  :-)



Daniel Tammett

Another young man with remarkable abilities, Daniel Tammett is shown in this video extrapolating Pi to 22,500 digits. He says the numbers appear in his head as symbols. Unexplainable.



The questions raised by these remarkable individuals are staggering:  Just how much of our brains DO we use?  Can modern science replicate any of these extraordinary talents?  Are there teaching/learning methodologies that can even emulate 1% of what we see in these videos?

Or should we maybe just sit back and appreciate God's handiwork?