Brain Power: How far can we actually reach?

The human brain is often referred to as a Celestial Computer in view of the enormous mental functions, immeasurable hidden complexities and un-deciphered impulses of consciousness processed through it. Indefinable source of distinct talents and potentials are embedded within the human brain.

A comparison with the present day scenario of Supercomputers, the maximum amount of calculations that can be done by a super computer in the present day is 318 Teraflop (Earth Simulator, Japan). When compared to the human brain this super speed falls short flatly. The human brain is estimated to be working at around 1000 PetaFlops. Coupled to this speed, is a near infinite storage space or RAM/Hard Disks in a Supercomputer and an astounding algorithm to retrieve data, which is still being studied by scientists throughout the world.

Physically, an average human brain is a one and a half kilo of mushroom consisting of gray and white tissue of gelatinous consistency and has a staggering 30 billion neurons and 150-210 billion glial cells. Physically the brain represents only 2% of the body weight and requires 20 percent of the oxygen it inhales and a fifth of the blood pumped by the heart. Something more about the neurons; they look like a spider attached to a filament. The spider is the cell body; the filament is the axon, the legs the dendrites. The legs pick up signal from adjacent neurons, pass it to the body; the signal is in turn passed along by the filament at speeds up to 340 km/hour. After each signal passes, it takes the filament about 1/2000 of a second to recharge itself chemically. The interesting point is that at no point the neurons touch each other, and the signals are passed to one another in a spark gap fashion.

But, these studies have so far been unable to tell us the reason why some people have extraordinary memory and fantastic retaining power Maybe the difference in people’s intellectual and other mental abilities is only that of the degree of arousal and activation of some currently inactive neurons that act like a link between the untapped area of the mind and the conscious activities. Surely, this difference is not due to the structure of the brain, inheritance of destiny, etc. Rather it is a reflection of the extent of dormancy or activation of its unlimited potentials.

Trenchant memory is seen to have a predominant impact upon the intellectual capabilities of the brain. Forgetful persons are, in general, not only deprived of deep knowledge in general, but they also suffer because of the negligence of necessary tasks in day-to day life due to their short memory. The acquisition and future application of knowledge and past experience becomes possible only with the help of memory. This is what affects the course of decision-making, resolution of problems at hand and further expansion of perspicacious attainments.

It is true that some people are born with supernatural memory. But that does not mean that others lack the capability of awakening this natural potential of the mind. Like any other field of life, success or failure in this regard would largely depend upon one’s focused efforts and enthusiasm. Adept psychological conditioning and positive attitude towards whatever we attempt in this direction is the first prerequisite for desired progress. Inspiration from the living wonders of memory also boosts this psychological transformation. Let us look at some historic expressions of exceptionally sharp memory in different walks of life.

1)Lord Macaulay had an exceptionally sharp memory. This erudite scholar of the 19th Century had written the history of Britain in eighty volumes without opening any reference book for this purpose. He used to remember all the references, dates and venues of the events and the names of the people associated with those events since the day he met them or read about them. Map of any place ever visited by him, name and addresses of the people whom he had interacted with at least once, information or knowledge of any kind required by him, names and addresses of the people whom he interacted at least once, information or knowledge of any kind ever required by him, were so easily recalled by him as if he had crammed them by heart a short while ago. People used to call him a moving library.

2) John Fielding lived in Gloucestershire, England during 1901 to 1960. This man was born blind. His memory was so vivid that he could easily remember the names and addresses of over ten thousand persons whom he had met or interacted with. He was able to recollect this information without any mistake just by hearing the voice of any of these people.

3) Renowned French Philosopher August Comte used to thoroughly assimilate his thoughts in his memory before expressing them orally or in writing. His memory was so fantastic, that he did not have to refer to any books, notes or other sources, in order to complete his six volumes (4712 pages) of " Positive philosophy" during 1830 to 1842.

4) Richard Porson was a nineteenth century classic scholar of Greek. He knew by heart all the books written in this language till his times and all the plays of Shakespeare. Mr. Richard Porson, a one-time assistant of the British museum had become the chairman of the publication section of another museum for about 12 years. The catalogue and locations of the books were so perfectly stored in his memory that without lifting himself from his chair, he used to tell the exact location of the book asked for from the library’s stock. Moreover, he was even able to give an oral report on the contents of the text inside the books.

5) The ‘ Guinness Book of world records-1981’ had published the records of exceptional memory of in arithmetic. The record of recalling a number of 28013 digits in 9 hours 14 minutes that year was broken that year by Mahadevan, a Bangalore based student who could recall and write the numbers up to 31811 digits in 3 hours and 4 minutes only.

6) About a century ago, a major market in Denmark was caught in a devastating fire; all the records and cash of a bank’s branch were charred into ashes. By the next day the anxious depositors began to crowd around the bank premises in panic. The Super memory of the clerk in that bank saved them from the unprecedented crisis. This man could recall the names, account numbers and the latest bank balance in the accounts of the thousand odd customers of his bank. His information was found correct by appropriate inquiry with the customers and police investigations. He was soon honored by the post of chairman of the corporate group of that bank.

7) Renowned Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) had given the first handwritten manuscript of his book on the French Revolution to noted scholar John Stuart Mill for editing. By mistake, the latter’s servant burnt many of the pages of his manuscript in the cooking fireplace. When Mill apologized before the author, this shocking news did not perturb him at all. Because of his extraordinary memory and dedication to his work, Carlyle could reproduce the revised version of the manuscript with new enthusiasm.

8) The example of Mr. Nebur of Germany is one of its kinds. Exceptional memory of this man had him known across the world only in a single day. Once his office where he used to work as a clerk caught fire. Many important papers and files were burnt. Nebur’s supernormal memory came into light when he successfully reproduced the lost records in a short span of time. Many of these records reference numbers etc. were verified against the copies available with the clients and no mistake or slip of memory on Nebur’s part was detected. His hidden talents were also recognized on many other occasions after this amazing incident.

According to Carl Emil Seashore, a noted American psychologist of the 1890’s, an average man uses only about 10 % of his natural memory. Remaining 90 % is left unused in a haphazard manner. That is why generally one remains intellectually deprived or dull. If one is alert and systematically attempts to awaken and adeptly use the natural memory, the latter would be activated creatively and offer benefits of higher order.

The advanced models of the electronic brain are far behind even that of the normal functioning of the brain. But the above wonders of astonishing memory illustrate the superiority of Nature and make us realize that, what we know about the brain is only a small fraction of its marvelous potentials.

The potentials of the human brain are indeed limitless. Its immense powers remain dormant or ignored by most of us. Conclusively, as research in this field progresses, man will finally be just touching the boundaries of the horizons that he has seen and pondered over for so long.