Random Thoughts or Whatever

[harman/kardon]

Why do we forget?

Not talking brain damaged/drug taking/advanced age...but how/why does the brain forget things/events. etc.

Read somewhere/heard that everything we have sensed...stays with us, but the details decay/get lost!

Forgot what the "source" was.


Q

It is a natural process.

The brain needs permanent clearing-up. Otherwise it would "explode" due to the overwhelming quantity of inputs.

 

[spicer]

Yesterday was November FIRST, 2025 and I went into some stores and they ALL had Christmas music on, exclusively.

Frosty, and Rudolph guiding a sleigh with a little drummer boy keeping time on the way to a party. Xmas, earlier and earlier. Haven't heard the music yet but the merchandise was there before Halloween. Just something noticed.

 

[Quadman2]

It is a natural process.

The brain needs permanent clearing-up. Otherwise it would "explode" due to the overwhelming quantity of inputs.

Keep in mind though, C. ...we supposedly use only 10-15% of our brain power, with some...using a lot less.

 

[spicer]

It is a natural process.

The brain needs permanent clearing-up. Otherwise it would "explode" due to the overwhelming quantity of inputs.

That's called noise. Discernment is discriminating, like in a receiver. It's where one looks, focus, and that is individual, choice.

I wonder how the brain remembers, memory, across years, decades, moving pictures with sound, smells, impressions, since childhood, they tell us before, in the womb, subconscious, unexamined yet operative, possibly, likely, determinate. Even when 'it' forgets, the memory, selective, prompted, returns, if only for a moment. A matter of access, it is there. How, memory, and capacity, there is no understanding of how and no computation for capacity, not really, has a quantum, holographic quality that remains a mystery.

 

[spicer]

Keep in mind though, C. ...we supposedly use only 10-15% of our brain power, with some...using a lot less.

Supposedly. It provides a narrative that presupposes a known quantity that represents one hundred percent. How is a percent figured without knowing the whole. Only thing I could ever say to that is it's made up, fill in the reason.

 

[Mr Boochie]

Even when 'it' forgets, the memory, selective, prompted, returns, if only for a moment.

When I was in college, a professor was studying how the brain retrieves stored memory. He postulated that memories are held in specific sections or banks of the brain. When you are retrieving those memories, short-lived specific nucleopeptides are produced. These connect signal paths for the cortex to form the complete, correct memory.

That's why it can take a little silent moment (absent from other distractions) on your part, as the brain is trying to find and synthesize the correct peptides to make those connections.

 

[spicer]

When I was in college, a professor was studying how the brain retrieves stored memory. He postulated that memories are held in specific sections or banks of the brain. When you are retrieving those memories, short-lived specific nucleopeptides are produced. These connect signal paths for the cortex to form the complete, correct memory.

That's why it can take a little silent moment (absent from other distractions) on your part, as the brain is trying to find and synthesize the correct peptides to make those connections.

Ya, but, where does it store all that 'stuff'... a lifetime of sights, sounds, impressions... where's it kept, that is an extreme amount of data no matter how one looks at it. Cranial capacity, all that.

 

[DesertRatt]

All your experience in total is "out there." It's not inside the brain as scientists want to pretend. It's in the universal consciousness--all of it. How could possibly not be?

The inability to access every single detail is just decay of the human body dynamics. The reason that so many spiritual gurus in history speak of "all knowing, omnipotent divinity" is that they all discovered the universal consciousness.

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

Frosty, and Rudolph guiding a sleigh with a little drummer boy keeping time on the way to a party. Xmas, earlier and earlier. Haven't heard the music yet but the merchandise was there before Halloween. Just something noticed.

The merchandise started showing up in stores here mid July. Every store has had the music on since yesterday morning.

 

[DesertRatt]

I'm old enough to remember even Christmas "sales" were announced the week before Christmas. Left overs that had not sold.

I gave up caring about any of that nonsense. Let the old codger ladies and small children have their fun.

Holidays should be like orgasms--short, sweet, and intense.

 

[DesertRatt]

Memory

"Science can identify components of a memory (cells, synapses, patterns) and even manipulate them to alter recall. But no one has ever pointed to a brain region, cell, or molecule and said, “Here is one complete memory.” Memories are emergent properties of dynamic, distributed networks—fundamentally not “locatable” in the way the question implies." -- GROK

 

[spicer]

Memory

"Science can identify components of a memory (cells, synapses, patterns) and even manipulate them to alter recall. But no one has ever pointed to a brain region, cell, or molecule and said, “Here is one complete memory.” Memories are emergent properties of dynamic, distributed networks—fundamentally not “locatable” in the way the question implies." -- GROK

In other words, they don't know.

 

[Mr Boochie]

Ya, but, where does it store all that 'stuff'... a lifetime of sights, sounds, impressions... where's it kept, that is an extreme amount of data no matter how one looks at it. Cranial capacity, all that.

I dunno. This is just what I "remember" from my college days.

 

[DesertRatt]

In other words, they don't know.

Correcto! They have no idea. They have been looking for a long time. But, that's the basic problem of materialism in science. If there is no "stuff" to find, touch and measure, they are lost.

 

[spicer]

I dunno. This is just what I "remember" from my college days.

 

[onwardjames]

Why do we forget?

Not talking brain damaged/drug taking/advanced age...but how/why does the brain forget things/events. etc.

Read somewhere/heard that everything we have sensed...stays with us, but the details decay/get lost!

Forgot what the "source" was.


Q

Keep in mind though, C. ...we supposedly use only 10-15% of our brain power, with some...using a lot less.

We forget because details, like paint on a car, or chiseling to a rock surface, gets worn. The nuts and bolts of memory might still somewhat remain, but memories are like newspaper cutouts - the more they are handled, the more they are altered, degraded, and ultimately changed.

As for the 10% myth, that's balls. We use 100% of our processing power, which varies from individual to individual, we just don't use 100% of our storage capacity.

Any more than that, I think DesertRatt and spicer have it covered, at least from my perspective, Quad.

 

[Mr Boochie]

As for the 10% myth, that's balls. We use 100% of our processing power, which varies from individual to individual, we just don't use 100% of our storage capacity.

What's even crazier is that some memories are stored in DNA. Like infants know their parents. Or infant birds know the difference between a "good" bird and a "bad" one, without ever being taught.

 

[onwardjames]

What's even crazier is that some memories are stored in DNA. Like infants know their parents. Or infant birds know the difference between a "good" bird and a "bad" one, without ever being taught.

From the papers and things I've read on the matter of generational knowledge, there's something amazing afoot.

 

[DesertRatt]

It would be interesting to know how anyone of relevant authority came to the conclusion that we only use 10% (or X% for that matter) of our brain power. I've never seen references to an actual experimental study. Love to see it though.

I should imagine (as a know-nothing amateur) that the part of the brain automatically running all the bodily systems like clockwork must be a significant part of usage. Then, there is all the "early warning system" that must be constantly vigilant regarding dangers coming at us. That must take up a fair bit too. It would seem likely to me that those two alone would account for more than 10%.

So, if we imagine a "wattmeter" of sorts connected to our brains, what would cause it to hit 100%? Maybe being presented with a challenge like, "Solve this puzzle in less than one minute" or something like that?

 

[DesertRatt]

Ok, here's what GROK said when I asked for proof about the 10% idea.

QUOTE (sorry, it's kinda long)

The claim that "humans only use 10% of their brain" is a persistent myth, but it has no basis in any scientific study or experiment. No peer-reviewed research has ever concluded this, and the idea is contradicted by modern neuroscience. Here's a clear breakdown of its origins and why it's false:Origins of the MythThe 10% figure likely stems from misinterpretations of 19th- and early 20th-century neurological research, including:

1. Misquoted Brain Research (1890s–1900s)
   • Pioneering neurologists like Pierre Flourens and Karl Lashley studied brain function by removing parts of animal brains and observing behavior. Lashley found that rats could still perform tasks after significant brain tissue was removed, leading to the idea that much of the brain was "unused."
   • This was never applied to humans and certainly not quantified as "10%." The results actually showed functional reserve capacity, not unused potential.
2. William James and the "Reserve Energy" Idea (1890s)
   • Psychologist William James wrote in The Energies of Men (1907) that people only tap a small portion of their possible mental and physical resources.
   • This philosophical idea about human potential was later distorted into a literal brain-usage statistic.
3. Misinterpretation of Brain Imaging (Early 20th Century)
   • Early brain scans (like EEGs) only detected activity in certain regions during specific tasks, leading some to assume the rest was "silent" or unused.
   • In reality, different brain areas activate for different functions, and even at rest, the brain is highly active (the "default mode network").
4. Popular Media and Self-Help (1930s–Present)
   • The 1936 self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie) referenced the idea.
   • The 2014 movie Lucy and countless motivational speakers amplified the myth, falsely claiming "unlocking 10%" would grant superpowers.

What the Science Actually Shows

• Functional MRI (fMRI) and PET scans show that nearly all brain regions are active over a 24-hour period, even during sleep.
• Even simple tasks (like moving a finger) involve multiple brain areas.
• The brain uses ~20% of the body’s energy despite being only 2% of body weight—inefficient if 90% were unused.
• Brain damage in any region can impair function, proving no part is "spare."

Bottom LineNo study ever concluded humans use only 10% of their brains. The claim is a myth born from misquoted science, pop psychology, and Hollywood. The brain is fully utilized, just in a distributed, task-dependent way.