Statistician William M. Briggs reports an amazing medical case where the
“skull was filled largely by fluid, leaving just a thin perimeter of actual brain tissue.”
Here’s the kicker: And yet the man was a married father of two and a civil servant with an IQ of 75, below-average in his intelligence but not mentally disabled…
He notes the “challenge” that:
“Any theory of consciousness has to be able to explain why a person like that, who’s missing 90% of his neurons, still exhibits normal behavior,” says Cleeremans. A theory of consciousness that depends on “specific neuroanatomical features” (the physical make-up of the brain) would have trouble explaining such cases.
What then is fMRI measuring? False positives? Or is the brain far more amazing than we have imagined so far? See:
On The Severe (And Unrecognized) Limitations Of fMRI