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Though I tend to agree with your train of thought, I'm always reminded of the French man who lost 90% of his brain mass yet still had a family a job and lived a normal life by all accounts. The human body can confound expectations for sure.

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He didn't lose his brain mass, it was compressed into a thin shell around his skull.[0] Moreover, his IQ was 75 - I'm not sure ending up in the bottom 5% of human intelligence as a consequence of chronic hydrocephaly is a "normal" life.

[0] https://www.untrammeledmind.com/2018/02/so-his-brains-just-s...

Not normal, but impressive nonetheless.

Sure, but outliers aside, I'd reckon you would see some sort of statistically relevant effent if you take, say, 1000 people, yank out 90% of the brain of half of them, and just watch them go about their day. (If the ethics committee would let you)

You might want to invest in some creative writing for the IRB packet for that one.

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