Modal Argument: The Mind is Not the Brain

[Angrboda]

There is also the strange case of John Lorber. Lorber had a measured IQ of 126, yet CAT scans revealed that he had only 10% of normal brain volume. Sure he still had a brain, but not much of one.

Strange indeed. Strange because John Lorber, in this case, is the doctor, not the student with the claimed IQ of 126. Quickly flipping through some accounts, it appears the student had not 10% of his normal brain volume, but more like 30-50% according to one account (it's unclear as this is one of those stories where the details frequently change between the retelling; I suspect there is no actual documented figure for the patient's total brain volume in the literature). The reference to 10% brain volume appears to stem from an unrelated matter mentioned in what appears to be the original reporting of this anecdote, a 1980 article in Science, "Is Your Brain Really Necessary?" by Roger Lewin. The main draw of the particular case was the relatively small thickness of the cortical mantle of the individual which Lorber reports as being little more than a millimeter or so (the approximate resolution of the equipment of that era). Given Lorber's preoccupations and his likely frequent retelling of this particular anecdote, there is probably good reason to treat the whole story with some skepticism.

When you are this pitifully bad at getting the details correct for what is no doubt a favorite example for you, it's little mystery why no one takes you and your conclusions seriously.