Nadendla 1

Sai Nadendla
Ms. Gardner
English 10H/ Period 6
27 January 2016
Electrical Impulses
The brain is the most complex object known to mankind. It bears every action we take,
and holds every memory we create. It harnesses all the knowledge we have acquire, and fosters
all the emotion we show. These feelings, actions, memories that we all have are all just supposed
to be electrical impulses, but are they really? Are these zips and zaps stemming from a control
center the power behind my thoughts and yours?
It is commonly believed that the brain is just a simple pink blob; however, according to
the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: The brain is the most complex part
of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses,
initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Lying in its bony shell and washed by
protective fluid, the brain is the source of all the qualities that define our humanity. The brain is
the crown jewel of the human body. Rightfully due this crucial role, the brain takes up 20
percent of the calories we intake. It runs on only 12.6 watts; a fifth of the energy required to
power a standard light bulb. The brain is extraordinarily efficient when put up against man-made
electronics; for instance a standard computer nowhere near the power of a human brain takes
approximately 300 watts. (Jabr) The brain is still with this limited power able to send millions of
electrical signals that control every thought and action we take. Scientists are confident that the
brain is using electrical impulses to communicate; however, they lack a true deeper
understanding on the scrambled wiring inside the control room.

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My first personal experience with the brain, that I can recall, was also a very scientific
one. It was when I was only seven years old, and I at such a young age was already questioning
the weight of my head. It puzzled me how I could move fingers, and how I could observe the
outside world. A show on Discovery Kids, on the brain, tried to satisfy my curiosity. It
highlighted on the zips and zaps the brain uses to communicate, and also on the physical
appearance. At that time it seemed so unnatural for an organic component, such as the brain, to
use what has been established in my mind as a man-made force, electricity. This was of course a
false theory of mine, but it didnt lift the unnatural feel of the idea. It seemed even stranger that
our brains could send electrical signals without being interrupted by all the interference from the
electronics we handle, on a day to day basis. Surely I thought in my mind that my control center
would be just like a plane's that requested all mobile phones to be switched off. My first
experience instead of satisfying my curiosity made my desire to acquire new knowledge grow.
The only problem was the very process of learning and memorizing information in my internal
hard-drive could not be explained to me. This early memory did little more than confuse and
defy my own reasoning on how the brain worked. I used to believe that it all happened
magically, and there was no need for any questioning, but once the challenge to find out more
about the brains zips and zaps arose I could not resist accepting it.
The powerful object that rests inside our heads serves as the control system for bodies
like NASAs mission control who guided Spirit to Mars. The brain continued to fascinate me, and
many questions arose none that could be answered by an average person. So my questions rested
in my memory until recent years where I thought they would be answered. This was in Ms.
Hollys ninth grade biology classroom in our unit of anatomy, which was a rather short endeavor.
Just like learning about ourselves and where we fit in, the brain learning about itself didnt come

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easy. The brain is composed of millions of neurons and they communicate with long fibers
called axons which carry signal pulses, she said. It all seemed a complex scientific blurb at the
time, but it must have pailed in comparison to the control panels of our brains. I translated her
information to more palpable terms and came up with: the brain is wired through electrical
impulses that control every moment of our lives. It was still quite hard to believe that all our
emotions were nothing then what a lightbulb experienced when it is turned on. After her lecture
on the brain she proceeded to the main attraction that she saved for the end; showing us a real
human brain. She brought the brain out slowly, and placed it on top of her desk. The brain was
housed inside a large jar that was filled with a yellowish fluid. It was a greyish, solid blob that
was filled with crevices and folds. This interaction with the brain made it seem even more
unlikely that such an object could be the operator of the many switches and levers in our bodies.
If I put aside all the scientific knowledge that has been bestowed upon me, and take a
more philosophical route my definition of the brain, that I have established over the years, seems
more plausible. A Stanford paper on the philosophy of the brain titled: The Mind/Brain Identity
Theory, takes a look at the distinction between the mind and the brain. Their theory is that: The
identity theory of mind holds that states and processes of the mind are identical to states and
processes of the brain. Strictly speaking, it need not hold that the mind is identical to the brain.
(Smart) In summary of the paper, she proposes that the mind and brain are separate and
shouldn't be looked as one. For instance, Smart claims that we wouldnt say: Her mind weighs
fifty ounces or She has a good mind. Smarts thoughts justify the idea that there are two
forces in the control room, and how it is not just sheer electricity making us act.
I have gained much information on our brain's ability to autopilot our bodies, but there is
still so much more knowledge that I could acquire. Even the greatest minds of the world are still

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unsure about these control rooms. These questions have not been answered at this point in my
life, but maybe some day in the future technological advances will allow me to satisfy my
immense curiosity. The brains zips and zaps have been proven by science to be the operator of
our bodies, but maybe the thoughts of our mind have a different operator all together. This would
justify the reasoning behind how our bodies are able to conduct so many functions
subconsciously. In the end if our brains are operating only on simple electrical impulses the
feelings they create are still much greater.

Works Cited
"Brain Basics: Know Your Brain." National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke. National Institutes of Health, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.
Jabr, Ferris. "Does Thinking Really Hard Burn More Calories?" Scientific American.
Nature America Inc., 18 July 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

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Smart, J. J. C. "The Mind/Brain Identity Theory." Stanford University. Stanford

University, 12 Jan. 2000. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.