Image Credit: EuropaCorp
Lucy, directed by Luc Besson, stars Scarlett Johansson and was a box office hit, although not all critics welcomed the French director’s film. Lucy, in fact, was “accused” of relying too heavily on the myth that humans use only ten percent of their brains.
Lucy: The Plot
Released in theaters in 2014, Lucy tells the story of Lucy Miller (Scarlett Johansson), a student living in Taipei who seems to have no other concern in the world than enjoying life with her boyfriend Richard (Pilou Asbæk). It is Richard who asks her to deliver a mysterious briefcase to a specific location. To do her boyfriend a favor, Lucy ends up being kidnapped and exploited as a drug courier by a man who uses her, implanting the drug CPH4 in her stomach. Attacked by a gangster who wants to sexually assault her, Lucy ends up being kicked, causing the bag in her stomach to rupture and release its entire contents into her body. CPH4 gives Lucy incredible powers, both physical and mental, leading her to seek help from a renowned cognitive scientist (Morgan Freeman). At this point, Lucy must decide what to do with the powers she has discovered and how to take revenge on those who exploited her.
Do humans really only use ten percent of their brains?
As reported on the Internet Movie Database website, it took Luc Besson about ten years to make the film. In fact, Lucy was a screenplay the French director had been working on for years, claiming he wanted to create a film that would blend elements from other movies such as Léon, Interstellar, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Despite the considerable time Luc Besson had devoted to making Lucy, the director was nonetheless aware that his screenplay contained certain notions that were incorrect and had no scientific basis. Among these is the idea that humans use only ten percent of their brains, implying that there is a boundless universe of possibilities for fully harnessing the human mind.
As Discover Magazine notes, it is unclear where this myth originated, one that science has consistently sought to debunk. However, many experts seem to agree that the spread of this misconception may have begun in 1936 with the publication of a self-help book by Dale Carnegie, which, in turn, drew on ideas that psychologist William James had theorized in the early 20th century. In a 1907 article cited by Psych Classics, James wrote: “Compared to what we are capable of, it is as if we were half asleep. Our fire is dampened, our air currents are controlled. We are using only a small fraction of our physical and mental resources.” Neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt told Discover Magazine: “I think people are drawn to this pseudo-fact because it’s an optimistic theory. Wouldn’t we all love to believe that our brains are giant pools full of potential that we aren’t using? The alternative would be having to accept the reality of our limitations and the challenges of learning.” Furthermore, the neuroscientist emphasizes that there is absolutely no truth to the myth also portrayed in the movie Lucy. She said: “There is no room for doubt.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging has shown that all parts of the brain are active during various activities. Not all at the same time, of course, but every part of the brain has a job to do.
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