Automaton seems fine to me - has been in use for a long time too - pre-dates WWII. I think it once referred to clockwork mechanisms certainly since 17th/18th century. Such as those gifted to chinese emperors etc. This seems to fit your context. ‘autopilot’ is anachronistic, but would fit with current usage.
Hmm 🤔 ok, good to know. I’ll have to do some digging into its usage.
My other problem with it though is that it kind of strips the ‘human’ aspect of their experience away. That’s how it feels to me, anyway. Do you get that feeling when you read it?
It’s also maybe slightly too high of a register for the way this person writes/talks.
Beg to differ here. I think it highlights the contrast between the suffering of the other people and the automatic shutdown of emotion in extreme stress situations as a survival mechanism. This known & documented I think. And very very human. Have you read Bone Games: Extreme Sports, Shamanism, Zen, and the Search for Transcendence by Robert Schultheis? Illuminating. Can lend you a copy if your library doesn’t have it. Scary book but I found it chimed with some of what happened to me back when I was a professional 3day eventer, and also with accounts of the holocaust etc. And other instances of humans under extreme physical, social and mental stress.
I haven’t read that, but I’ve discussed that very automatic shut down in my research quite a bit. They call it a ‘psychic closing off’ in trauma studies.
Automaton seems fine to me - has been in use for a long time too - pre-dates WWII. I think it once referred to clockwork mechanisms certainly since 17th/18th century. Such as those gifted to chinese emperors etc. This seems to fit your context. ‘autopilot’ is anachronistic, but would fit with current usage.
Hmm 🤔 ok, good to know. I’ll have to do some digging into its usage.
My other problem with it though is that it kind of strips the ‘human’ aspect of their experience away. That’s how it feels to me, anyway. Do you get that feeling when you read it?
It’s also maybe slightly too high of a register for the way this person writes/talks.
This is so hard 🙃
Beg to differ here. I think it highlights the contrast between the suffering of the other people and the automatic shutdown of emotion in extreme stress situations as a survival mechanism. This known & documented I think. And very very human. Have you read Bone Games: Extreme Sports, Shamanism, Zen, and the Search for Transcendence by Robert Schultheis? Illuminating. Can lend you a copy if your library doesn’t have it. Scary book but I found it chimed with some of what happened to me back when I was a professional 3day eventer, and also with accounts of the holocaust etc. And other instances of humans under extreme physical, social and mental stress.
I haven’t read that, but I’ve discussed that very automatic shut down in my research quite a bit. They call it a ‘psychic closing off’ in trauma studies.