Is the brain perfect?

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If it were my job to redesign the brain I would try to defer the task to someone smarter than I, or you, or anyone else on this planet. If I couldn't get anyone else to bite, then I would leave it as is. At least in its current form it has millions of years of evolution on its side.

Anyone who thinks they know a better way of running the most complicated thing in the known universe has a serious case of hubris.

Sorry to give you the Debbie-downer response. I suppose that if I could be turned into the gigantic brain from Futurama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Stupid) that would be acceptable.
 
I don't know about other peoples', but MY brain is perfect. 😎
 
I think better effort would be spent on redesigning the spine - I'm not a big fan, though I'm not exactly sure what design would be better.
 
The evolution passes through on it's own way; I think if our Limbic system and instinctual drives were weaker than they are right now, there would be much more capacity for our Neopallium to run...
 
No, I wouldn't. We know so little about the brain to even consider that. Let's focus on fixing Toyota for the time being. 😉

But I so would love to rename all the brain structures, starting with substantia innominata.
 
PhakeDoc said:
I think better effort would be spent on redesigning the spine - I'm not a big fan, though I'm not exactly sure what design would be better.
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Word. If I every have a chance, I will ask God WTF was he thinking with the whole bipedal spinal thing.
 
There's a similar thread running in the OB/GYN forum that's WAY more interesting.
 
adimpleo said:
If you were redesigning the brain today, would you leave it as is? If not, what changes would you make?
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You are seriously asking whether an organ which would make us believe that anti-freeze is a delicious potable is perfect?

As to what should change I'd say that's up to natural selection to decide again and again and again.
 
I would make it a little more durable, since as it stands it's pretty squishy.
 
Paseo Del Norte said:
Word. If I every have a chance, I will ask God WTF was he thinking with the whole bipedal spinal thing.
Click to expand...

Seriously...I Am Not Making This Up (as Dave Barry would say): part of me losing my job was saying to a patient, in the buckle of the Bible Belt, that I really don't think man was meant to walk upright.
 
He he he ... interesting question.
I guess the brain could be more straight forward .. as it is, it's a little convoluted ...
 
illegallysmooth said:
X-ray vision. ESP. Perfect memory recall.
Click to expand...

You don't want perfect memory recall. Consider the disadvantages of having it. This would require something like working memory systems to be completely overlapping with long-term memory systems. If this were the case, your brain would need to wade through all the information that you had ever learned throughout your life span every time you needed to recall one bit of information. This is horribly inefficient. Also, it would really take a toll on your other cognitive systems, namely social cognition. This is why individuals with extraordinary recall abilities tend to be lacking in other areas. There's a reason why we can't do all of these things at once at the level of the brain.
 
I would make the following changes:

1) Vascular collaterals would be more consistent and complete such that single vessel emboli/thromboses would be unlikely to cause infarcts.

2) I would incorporate greater ability to recruit pluripotent stem cells to regain lost neurological functions.

3) Important functions likely language, memory, and spatial representation would have bilateral representation.

4) Genetic predispositions to selfishness, chauvinism, violence, and sexual aggression would be eliminated.

5) the brain would be overall larger and have greater processing power. The average human IQ would be the equivalent of modern day supergenius level.

6) the senses of taste and smell would be greatly enhanced

7) The brain would have built in mechanisms to suppress hyperactive neurons
 
CogNeuro said:
You don't want perfect memory recall. Consider the disadvantages of having it. This would require something like working memory systems to be completely overlapping with long-term memory systems. If this were the case, your brain would need to wade through all the information that you had ever learned throughout your life span every time you needed to recall one bit of information. This is horribly inefficient. Also, it would really take a toll on your other cognitive systems, namely social cognition. This is why individuals with extraordinary recall abilities tend to be lacking in other areas. There's a reason why we can't do all of these things at once at the level of the brain.
Click to expand...

I can't believe you put this much thought into a response to my contention that I would like x-ray vision and perfect memory.

I retract my earlier statement. I would like x-ray vision, perfect memory and cognitive processing abilities capable of using it without lacking in other areas.
 
soulofmpatel said:
2) I would incorporate greater ability to recruit pluripotent stem cells to regain lost neurological functions.
Click to expand...

This would be towards the top of my list if there was a perfectly safe way to regulate it. Seems like some players hang around in the SVZ of the lateral ventrical but usually only turn into A cells to be olfactory neurons and C cells to be oligodendrocyte precursors. If a pluripotent population could move to site of injury and regenerate that would be pretty nice. Then again as we are its probably the multipotent cells that we have now that go haywire and lead to GBMs. Double edged sword.
 
RatherBeGolfing said:
This would be towards the top of my list if there was a perfectly safe way to regulate it. Seems like some players hang around in the SVZ of the lateral ventrical but usually only turn into A cells to be olfactory neurons and C cells to be oligodendrocyte precursors. If a pluripotent population could move to site of injury and regenerate that would be pretty nice. Then again as we are its probably the multipotent cells that we have now that go haywire and lead to GBMs. Double edged sword.
Click to expand...

Which reminds me...there should be some backup pathways built in which cause malignant cells to undergo apoptosis.
 
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