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00:00Do you ever feel like you wish you had more knowledge?
00:03Like you could do with being just a little bit more intelligent?
00:06Or a little less confused?
00:08Do you ever wonder whether your cognitive gifts as a human being could be put to better
00:12use or extended to a higher level?
00:15Clearly, the question of intelligence is all the rage right now, as we seemingly stand
00:19on the cusp of an AI revolution… but actually, do we also have all we need for a true transcendence
00:27still hidden, untapped, inside our own heads?
00:30This is Unveiled, and today we're taking a closer look at how to unlock your brain.
00:37Do you need the big questions answered?
00:39Are you constantly curious?
00:41Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:44And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:47The human brain is sometimes described as the single most complex structure in the known
00:52universe.
00:53We've simply found nothing else that's quite like it.
00:56And we owe everything to our brains in terms of our species' story up until this point.
01:01The human brain is a marvel of evolution, packing about 100 billion neurons into something
01:06that weighs approximately three pounds only.
01:10Despite its relatively small size, however, it's only about two percent of our total
01:14body weight.
01:15The brain consumes roughly twenty percent of our energy intake.
01:19Ultimately, it has enough processing capacity to handle a billion, billion operations per
01:24second.
01:25In general, it's the high neuron density inside our brains that distinguishes us from
01:29other species.
01:31For example, while an elephant's brain is physically larger, it's not as densely packed
01:35with neurons as ours is.
01:37Plus, elephant neurons are spread differently within their brains, and so elephants aren't
01:42as intelligent as we are.
01:44The human brain is also remarkably adaptable.
01:47It exhibits plasticity, which means it can reorganize itself by forming new neural connections
01:52throughout its life, allowing us to learn from experiences and react to change.
01:57It's due to our brains that we can see, think, touch, move, remember.
02:02Everything that makes us human is channeled through our cerebral centre.
02:06Of course, it's also due to issues, or even shortcomings, in our brains that we can forget,
02:11display bias, misunderstand, or fail to notice something.
02:15As such, and over decades of modern research, the race has long been on to uncover how to
02:20get more out of what we all have inside our skulls.
02:24Before we get into it, though, there's one key and related concept that always comes
02:29up.
02:30The often-cited idea that we only ever use ten percent of our brains.
02:34Thanks to science fiction, including various characters with seeming super-intelligence,
02:39it's then assumed that ninety percent is just sitting there, forever humming with potential
02:43but never actually accessed.
02:45Broadly, however, modern neuroscience has debunked this as a myth.
02:50Brain imaging studies have consistently shown that even simple tasks engage multiple brain
02:55regions, indicating that the entire brain is active and involved in various functions
03:00all the time.
03:01It's simply the quest for efficiency that shapes how the brain is used at any one moment,
03:06rather than any or most of it being shut off by default.
03:10Indeed, much of our brains are already, always on, busy completing all the tasks necessary
03:16just to keep us alive.
03:18If ninety percent of our brains really were to go dark, then we actually wouldn't live
03:22to tell the tale.
03:24If ninety percent were never to have been used in the first place, then we likely wouldn't
03:28have reached this point, either.
03:30The allure of a literally untapped well of brain potential persists due to several factors,
03:35including the complexity of this immense organ, and the existence of unconscious processes.
03:40It's certainly true, then, that there's a lot we still don't know about the brain.
03:45Efforts towards mapping it are becoming more and more refined, and the unknowns are steadily
03:49being removed… but there are gaps that remain.
03:53Which brings us back to our desire to make more out of what we have.
03:57One seemingly quite simple way in which scientists believe we can enhance our mental capabilities
04:02is by building what they call Cognitive Reserve, broadly referring to the mind's resilience
04:07against damage or decline due to aging, or even due to diseases like Alzheimer's.
04:12It's said that you can grow this reserve through lifelong learning.
04:16That is, by always engaging with new information, theories, and ideas.
04:21With anything that may challenge your beliefs and routines.
04:24Pursuing mentally stimulating activities such as learning new languages, playing musical
04:29instruments, or solving puzzles could, it's thought, increase the neural connections in
04:33your brain… and thereby build up the reserve.
04:37With studies suggesting that individuals with higher Cognitive Reserve may experience slower
04:42rates of cognitive decline, particularly as they grow older.
04:46There is some debate as to exactly how far these kinds of conclusions can be taken, especially
04:51when it comes to specific neurological conditions… but in general, it seems that it really is
04:56never a bad thing to learn something new.
04:59Meanwhile, and another straightforward way to optimize your brain health is through diet
05:04and exercise.
05:06Today, scientists know that your diet plays a crucial role in maintaining optimal brain
05:11function.
05:13Consuming foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins E and K
05:18in particular, can support healthy cognition.
05:21Omega-3 helps with memory.
05:23Antioxidants slow the death of neurons.
05:26Vitamin E helps with that plasticity, and K is said to keep your brain young.
05:31Here though, there is perhaps no secret trick, and the best advice is to follow the general
05:35advice given by almost all nutritionists… to follow a varied and balanced diet without
05:41stacking up on processed and unhealthy foods.
05:44At the same time, and today arguably more than ever, researchers know that regular physical
05:49exercise isn't just for body health, but also for mental performance.
05:54For example, cardiovascular exercise increases blood flow to the entire body including the
06:00brain, which it's thought may directly encourage neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons.
06:06In this case then, exercise is more than even just the endorphins that are now so famously
06:11released, and which can tackle various mental health issues.
06:15As well as that, exercise could be an easy opportunity for you to tap deeper into your
06:20brain, potentially enabling you to become smarter.
06:24In fact, there are now multiple studies revealing a positive link between regular exercise and
06:29increased intelligence.
06:31But finally, and if running every day just isn't for you, then there's reason to
06:36believe that there is another way.
06:38And although it's a field that's attracted its fair share of skepticism in the past,
06:42it is increasingly believed that mindfulness and meditation offer certain key and specific
06:48benefits, including toward enhancing neuroplasticity.
06:52Mindfulness meditation has been shown not only to reduce stress, but also to potentially
06:57increase grey matter density in some parts of the brain, such as in regions associated
07:03with memory, with processing emotion, and with broadening perspectives.
07:07Here, we can see how this once vague practice has come to be associated with, again, challenging
07:13the brain into forming new ideas.
07:16Which is something that science in general knows is important as we move through life.
07:20It's now thought that mindful practices help us become more aware of the present moment,
07:25yes, but also to increase our concentration in other parts of our lives, to improve our
07:30focus, and to advance what our brains are capable of knowing and storing.
07:35Clearly, when trying to master complex tasks, or even just trying to solve problems in everyday
07:41life, these are potentially crucial cognitive skills.
07:45So, what's your verdict?
07:47Which of these methods do you think, or have you found, to be best when it comes to getting
07:51the most out of your brain?
07:53Is there anything in particular that you wish you knew more about?
07:56Or that you'd like to become better at?
07:58Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
08:01Of course, and circling back to that AI revolution we referenced at the top of this video, it
08:06could soon be that we'll have new ways to push our minds further.
08:10With the advent of brain implants and the potential arrival of other, seemingly more
08:14insidious tech wearables, there are countless possible routes down which humanity might
08:19travel.
08:20Perhaps for the better, perhaps for the worse… although that's for another episode.
08:25For now, what's clear is that you can make meaningful tweaks and changes even without
08:29near-future machines.
08:31You can see your own mind and raise it.
08:34Because that's how you can really unlock your brain.
08:39You are a conscious being.
08:41But what does that actually mean?
08:43Consciousness is something that's difficult to define, but it is universally understood
08:47and experienced.
08:48It's been described as the most familiar and yet most mysterious aspect of our lives.
08:54But where does it come from?
08:56And what is it, exactly?
08:58This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question…
09:03What is consciousness?
09:06Do you need the big questions answered?
09:08Are you constantly curious?
09:09Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
09:12And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
09:17Consciousness is such a strange phenomenon that no one really knows how to explain it.
09:21Despite debating for thousands of years, philosophers haven't been able to reach a consensus on
09:26its nature, and neither have scientists in the modern era.
09:30Some argue that it cannot be studied, or that it's nothing more than an illusion.
09:35Even a definition is hard to agree on.
09:37But one that academics tend to use is that a conscious being is aware of its environment,
09:42itself, and its perception.
09:45Deciding which beings fulfill these criteria is another story.
09:49Testing for consciousness in other animals is challenging, as while it's relatively
09:53easy to test for environmental awareness, determining self-awareness is much harder.
09:59One way to do so might be to communicate with an animal directly.
10:03But even then, there's still room for doubt.
10:05Coco the gorilla, for example, was able to learn sign language, use personal pronouns,
10:11and discuss her emotions.
10:12However, there's debate over whether this indicated consciousness, or whether Coco was
10:17simply following unconscious cues and prompts from her trainers.
10:22Throughout history, many have viewed consciousness as a special attribute that separates humans
10:26from other animals.
10:27A gift from the gods.
10:29It's been seen as something that we all have, but which can never be explained, and doesn't
10:34have a physical basis.
10:35However, that perspective began to change in the seventeenth century, as thinkers like
10:40René Descartes began to struggle with the relationship between the mind and the brain.
10:44In the eighteenth century, physicians and physiologists started to uncover the importance
10:49of the brain in how we think.
10:51One of the most famous cases during this time was that of Phineas Gage, a railroad worker
10:56whose accidental frontal lobotomy in 1848 dramatically changed his personality.
11:02Thanks to advances in neuroscience, we now understand that thoughts have a basis in neural
11:07networks and emotions in certain neurotransmitters.
11:10Is there a physical basis for consciousness, too?
11:13This idea also raises questions about the evolution of consciousness, and when it first
11:18emerged.
11:19While some point back millions of years to the first great apes, or hundreds of thousands
11:24to the first archaic humans, others look to a much later date.
11:28One particularly surprising view comes from psychologist Julian Jaynes, who argued that
11:34consciousness emerged between 1230 and 850 BC, based on his interpretations of Homer's
11:40Greek epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey.
11:43Jaynes presented his theory of consciousness in his 1976 book, The Origin of Consciousness
11:48in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, which provides a fascinating view on the nature
11:54of consciousness and its possible role in human history.
11:57This hypothesis was that, for much of human history, we lived in a state of bicameral
12:02mentality in which the right hemisphere of the brain spoke and issued commands, while
12:07the left listened and followed habits and routines.
12:11The commands of the right hemisphere were experienced as auditory hallucinations, as
12:16the voice of an outsider.
12:17For this reason, people may have mistaken their inner voices as those of gods.
12:22In an increasingly complex world that required more problem-solving, however, this split
12:27mentality eventually broke down, allowing a deeper connection and leading to consciousness.
12:33As evidence, Jaynes cites the aforementioned Greek epics as well as the Bible.
12:38He claimed that The Iliad and the earliest biblical books indicate a mental world without
12:43introspection, where the gods seem to speak to us directly.
12:46We allegedly see the first signs of introspection in The Odyssey and later biblical writings.
12:52The theory has been used to try to explain imaginary friends, religion, hypnosis, and
12:57schizophrenia.
12:58However, it remains controversial among scholars.
13:01Some critics have pointed to signs of introspection in The Epic of Gilgamesh, which dates back
13:05to around 2100 BC, as counterexamples.
13:09In response, Jaynes insisted that these signs must date to revisions in post-bicameral times.
13:15A further problem is that Jaynes' theory sees humans as the only animals with consciousness
13:20an idea that not everyone shares.
13:23Many experts argue that the neural substrates of mammals, birds, and some cephalopods are
13:28complex enough to potentially support consciousness, and that their behaviour suggests a level of
13:34self-awareness.
13:35All the way at the end of the spectrum is panpsychism, the idea that mind is fundamental
13:40to reality, present in all natural bodies.
13:44Proponents argue that consciousness is something like an omnipresent force in the universe,
13:49and is not specific to any kind of organism or object.
13:53This was a popular viewpoint in Western thought during the nineteenth century, and is also
13:58found in some Buddhist traditions, which teach that even non-sentient objects are part of
14:03a larger, interconnected, Buddha nature.
14:07Panpsychism began to fall off with the emergence of the verification principle of logical positivism,
14:12as it could not be empirically verified.
14:15But it's experienced a resurgence with advancements in neuroscience, quantum physics, and psychology.
14:21Some modern thinkers have even returned to panpsychism, such as German-American neuroscientist
14:26Christoph Koch, president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in
14:32Seattle.
14:33Koch believes that any complex system, quote, has the basic attributes of mind and has a
14:38minimal amount of consciousness, in the sense that it feels like something to be that system,
14:45end quote.
14:46In this view, consciousness is not a hard line, but a gradient, and many animals possess
14:51conscious traits.
14:52For example, bees showcase the ability to communicate information and remember faces
14:57from photographs.
14:58Elephants can remember people, and hold grudges against individuals who have harmed them.
15:03Even earthworms are smarter than people assume.
15:05Charles Darwin, after dedicating decades of his life to studying them, came away with
15:10the impression that earthworms acted consciously and displayed remarkable mental power.
15:16These theories are all possible answers to the hard problem of consciousness… which
15:20asks why and how we have conscious experiences.
15:24In the philosophy of mind, these conscious, subjective experiences are known as qualia.
15:30Explaining what they are is thought to be more difficult to explain than simply specifying
15:35the physical mechanisms in the brain that make consciousness possible.
15:40Neuroscientists have made remarkable progress in solving this easier problem, uncovering
15:44what are known as the neural correlates of consciousness.
15:49Research into patients who have had parts of their brains damaged or removed has allowed
15:53scientists to narrow down where consciousness lies physically.
15:57For example, those who have lost parts of their prefrontal cortex or cerebellum may
16:02lose certain abilities, but are still as conscious as they were before.
16:07Research suggests that consciousness may live, instead, in the posterior cortex, the back
16:12part of the cerebral cortex.
16:15Scientists have even developed a detector for consciousness, called the Zip and Zap.
16:19By applying magnetic energy to the brain, scientists can record how active the brain
16:24is, based on how many connections light up.
16:28Having developed a scale, researchers have been able to test this on people who have
16:32been injured and those in vegetative states, showing reliability in predicting whether
16:37someone was still conscious inside of their bodies.
16:40Eventually, scientists will be able to create a detailed map of the parts of the brain that
16:45create consciousness.
16:46However, there are some who argue that even that will still leave the hard problem unanswered.
16:52If we recreate a human brain in a computer, for example, will it truly be conscious?
16:58There are many different theories for explaining what consciousness is and how it emerges.
17:03One popular theory today is the Global Neuronal Workspace, which posits that consciousness
17:08arises from many areas of the brain having access to the same information.
17:13Instead of data being localised, it is broadcast to the entire brain, which creates conscious
17:19experience.
17:20When we come closer to instilling true, conscious thought into machines, maybe we'll learn
17:25more about it.
17:26But, for now, that's what consciousness is.
17:30What do you think?
17:31Is there anything we missed?
17:32Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you
17:36subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.