Jack Laurence

Escape is not an option.

In our previous episode, Sean and his fixer had been placed in a room and were told that they were not allowed to leave.

They weren't being held captive, it was all just precaution to ensure they hadn't been followed.

However, Sean's fixer was nervous.

Not a great sign.

But he himself was remaining positive and doing his best to convince himself and his fixer that all was fine.

However, that facade would come crashing down when the commander of the group comes into the room.

The two men are now trapped in a room, having been told essentially that they've been handed a death sentence, one that will likely see them suffer the same fate as so many before them.

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind in that sort of situation is, can we escape?

Okay, so time to get a little bit nerdy and sciencey here, because what happens to the body in times of high stress, even impending death, is fascinating.

When you're in extreme danger, when your life is genuinely threatened, your brain doesn't function the way it normally does.

The prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for rational thought, planning, language, decision-making, essentially shuts down.

It goes offline.

And there's a reason for that.

It's too slow.

When you're facing a life or death threat, your brain can't afford the luxury of careful reasoning.

It can't waste precious milliseconds weighing options, considering consequences, forming coherent sentences.

Those higher cognitive functions take time and energy that you simply don't have.

So your brain makes a choice.

It floods your system with stress hormones like dopamine, cortisol, and those chemicals that essentially tell your prefrontal cortex to shut down.