In this post I refer
to the 2013 (and imo severely underrated) movie Pacific Rim, but you don't need
to have watched it to understand the post, I promise. And no spoilers, either!
There's a theme that
really is the core of the movie, which is that in order to pilot the eponymous
giant robots, you need to have two pilots. Not only that, but two pilots
sharing a neurological bond, and working in complete tandem with one another.
It occurred to me that it could make a great metaphor for a lot of
neuro-disorders, albeit unintentionally.
See, in order for
the thing to work, the pilots have to be entirely
in synch. Essentially two bodies controlled by one joint mind. Interfere with their synchrony and disaster
happens.
In a way, the entire
human brain is the same thing. We think of ourselves as a single functional
unit, but really we're not. There's the part of our brain that regulates
emotion, the part of our brain that regulates motivation and impulse control,
the part of our brain that processes sensory input, and so on and so forth.
Each one not only has to function independently, they have to work in full
consensus with each other. Basically every neurological disorder in existence
can be traced back on some level to one part or another having trouble doing
it's job. Or to the different parts of
the brain losing their synchrony.
Neurotypical people
take for granted that their brains are going to function cohesively, and one
part or another isn't going to suddenly blink out or slack off. But I know
better. So much of my time is consumed with looking after the disparate bits of
my own brain that I feel like I'm herding cats sometimes. (And yes, I'm aware
of the slightly paradoxical idea that there's a "me" and a "my
brain" and I think of them as separate. It's not quite as simple as that,
but it works for the metaphor. Ask anyone else with ADHD.)
Of course, when the
pilots of a Jaeger are out of synch, you've got a mountain sized robot with a
nuclear core going haywire. When I have an out of synch brain, you just get a
me-sized hot mess.
