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Chapter 1: Introduction

If you could increase your brain power, then theoretically you could accomplish almost anything. While having a healthy and strong body is highly important as well, most of us would probably agree that our activities are more reliant on our cognitive abilities rather than our physical ones.

Many people have computer-based jobs for instance, and this means that we need to use our brains to handle data, to manipulate software, or to come up with business strategies. Much of our success comes down to our ability to interact with others, which of course is very much dependent on our intelligence and our brain power. Whether you’re giving a presentation and choosing the best words to communicate your message, or whether you’re in an interview or date setting and trying to quickly find the wittiest or funniest response to a question.

Problems at home tend to involve finances, social situations or legal issues – there are very few problems we can solve with our fists. In our spare time, we tend to pursue more intellectual activities too. Perhaps we play video games (reacting to enemies and solving puzzles), or maybe we sit and read.

And even when an activity seems ‘physical’ on the surface, it is in fact very often just as much cognitive. Take sports for example, which require you to be aware of the positions of your team mates and opponents and to use your body efficiently and accurately through space. Or how about doing ‘physical labor’ such as making repairs – which almost always involves some measure of engineering.

So, if you were smarter then, or if you just had greater command over your mental faculties, you’d be able to:

Concentrate longer on tasks and get more work done

o Thereby progressing further in your chosen career and earning more money
o Thereby giving yourself more free time at the end of each day and giving you fewer things to stress about

Come up with unique ideas and novel solutions

o Thereby potentially making yourself rich, or changing the world in a positive way
o Thereby solving problems that you face in your daily life Improve your physical and sporting ability

Impress anyone in a conversation

Become better at any given task, from plumbing to computer games Become more self-sufficient and reliant

And even beyond the practical and tangible benefits of boosting your brain power, you’d be able to benefit from simply having a greater appreciation for the world around you. A better understanding of how things work. An enhanced capacity for learning and more incentive to do so…

Perhaps you could improve your understanding and appreciation of the very nature of life and the universe…

Become Limitless

It’s no mean feat imagining what would be possible with greater brain power – if you yourself were greater. And so perhaps the best place for us to look to is fiction. What if we consider a fictional example of someone who is suddenly bestowed with incredible mental capacity?

And the best recent example of this probably comes from the film Limitless. In that film, the protagonist Eddie Mora is given a smart drug – a supplement called NZT. This tablet is an experimental drug that has the ability to help anyone to use ‘100%’ of their brains. (Of course, this is a load of nonsense - we already use 100% of our brains! But we’ll allow the writers the poetic license.)

When Eddie takes the NZT, he is instantly transformed. He goes from being a slob and a struggling writer, to cleaning up his flat and his appearance and completing his manuscript – which of course goes on to become a best-seller. He then works out the stock market and begins day trading, becoming rich from his home. He talks several women into bed before winning back his ex with impress displays of intelligence, such as his new ability to speak several languages. He moves into a stunning, luxury apartment and attracts the attention of an investment firm. Eventually, he uses the power and influence he accrues there to run for political office.

All this, because he was able to take control of his brain. Because he was able to see patterns that others missed. Because he ‘knew exactly what he had to do’. And because he gained sharper intuition and better cognitive skills.

Now of course this is a fiction and in reality, no such pill exists. Neither can we say with certainty that you would see such a huge impact on your life if you were to increase your brain power alone.