I am afraid, therefore I do not think

When a predator is at a distance, a human worries but still makes plans. But when contact with a predator is imminent, a human stops thinking and starts reacting. This was the conclusion of a simple "Pac-Man" videogame experiment, recently in the news.

That people are afraid of predators, especially when they are close is not the major insight of the experiment. This experiment reveals details on brain centers: activity in ventromedial prefontal cortex (which "helps control strategies") shifts to periaqueductal grey (which is "associated with quick-response survival mechanisms"). The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is also believed to overcome extinguished fear and consider long-term risks.

This experiment may explain the convention in horror movies and light gun shooting videogames like House of the Dead, in which a monster pops up in the face of the camera. By the experiment's model, the audience is expected to process the image of a nearby monster with the quick-response survival mechanisms, and their consideration of long-term risks is inhibited. Although not part of this experiment, presumably the audience's consideration of the plausibility of the threat is also inhibited. Even though the videotape in The Ring is implausible, when its monster is out of the TV and in the camera's (or protagonist's) face, our ability to consider the implausibility of the scenario is inhibited.

If this predator experiment is applicable to the broader scope and scale of political economics, the individual fears of a populace may translate into mass disregard for long-term risks in the face of perceived, immediate crises. Robert Higgs founded his insightful book on understanding American politics, Crisis and Leviathan, on the supposition that quick-fix programs, once institutionalized, remain long after the crisis has disappeared. This experiment exposes detailed mechanisms to explain from the individual up, how a society can fail to make plans for the future and thereby trade today's crises for tomorrow's systematic dysfunction, which burdens future generations with a loss of health and happiness. Briefly put, each individual, in the face of crisis, ignores long-term risk.

Such a model of fear's inhibition of consideration of consequences might explain why nations support their leaders' wars, as Hermann Goring noted in the Nuremberg trials:

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

What is not newly revealed by this experiment is that people don't think when afraid; politicians and war-mongers have known that for centuries. To short-circuit critical thought, simply broadcast THREATS such as: terrorists, environmental disaster, sexual abuse, economic crisis, health care crisis, and job security. Not that these aren't legitimate issues; they are, but these legitimate threats are tactically employed to fund corrupt campaigns and stuff pockets that are not solving the problems. One tactic to inhibit consideration of long-term risks is the emphasis of imminent danger through threat keywords that can be avoided by the proposed action. For example, George Bush routinely pads and punctuates his speech with threat keywords, such as: freedom, terror, rape, mutilation, and ballistic airports.

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