Okay. Well, I can tell you that I would look up various types of abnormal brain disorders, both organic and brought on by incredible amounts of stress. Adrian definitely doesn't have DID--DID generally develops as a result of trauma early in life, not in adulthood. Also, I don't think that he has two personalities, necessarily.
I don't think split brain disorder is too far off. I was actually rambling to a friend about this last night after I read your fic, because I was so fascinated by the idea that part of his brain is still cogent and thinking and scrabbling terrified. I honestly do think that it has come on as a result of falling victim to his own brainwashing combined with his high I.Q, but honestly? (and this is more a story choice for you than anything) I don't think that even Adrian could have maintained himself without some sort of interference between him and the brainwashing light...thing. My theory was that, after slowly succumbing to the brainwashing himself, his last desperate act was to order serious brain surgery on himself, effectively splitting a small piece of his brain off from the rest. Extremely dangerous, yes, unlikely to work, also yes, but Adrian is the smartest man in the world and this is science fiction.
Another route you might take is much more simple. Dan could do research into various types of dissociative disorders (which, if his disorder isn't actually cause by brain damage, is the way I'd probably classify it?) it might genuinely be that he is just that resilient, that he essentially cut his losses, and sacrificed as much of his brain as he had to to contain the 'data stream' coming from the lights. But considering how intelligent he is, maybe he's able to give, say, 75% of his brain to the data stream and keep a corner, that last 25%, to his conscious, rational mind, and not be completely overridden. Think of it, I suppose, like a computer's hard drive. The program that's being downloaded into his brain takes up alot of space, but he has more space than your average person.
I'm rambling. Obviously there's alot of ways you could go with this. It could be as simple as that he's managed to keep part of himself intact because he's just that intelligent, or your conscious/subconscious mind theory that got mentioned a few chapters back is also valid. I think I just like something a little more complex because the part of Adrian that is still Adrian doesn't seem like just his subconscious. It seems like how Adrian is as a whole, normally, both consciously and subconsciously.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-07-01 03:17 am (UTC)I don't think split brain disorder is too far off. I was actually rambling to a friend about this last night after I read your fic, because I was so fascinated by the idea that part of his brain is still cogent and thinking and scrabbling terrified. I honestly do think that it has come on as a result of falling victim to his own brainwashing combined with his high I.Q, but honestly? (and this is more a story choice for you than anything) I don't think that even Adrian could have maintained himself without some sort of interference between him and the brainwashing light...thing. My theory was that, after slowly succumbing to the brainwashing himself, his last desperate act was to order serious brain surgery on himself, effectively splitting a small piece of his brain off from the rest. Extremely dangerous, yes, unlikely to work, also yes, but Adrian is the smartest man in the world and this is science fiction.
Another route you might take is much more simple. Dan could do research into various types of dissociative disorders (which, if his disorder isn't actually cause by brain damage, is the way I'd probably classify it?) it might genuinely be that he is just that resilient, that he essentially cut his losses, and sacrificed as much of his brain as he had to to contain the 'data stream' coming from the lights. But considering how intelligent he is, maybe he's able to give, say, 75% of his brain to the data stream and keep a corner, that last 25%, to his conscious, rational mind, and not be completely overridden. Think of it, I suppose, like a computer's hard drive. The program that's being downloaded into his brain takes up alot of space, but he has more space than your average person.
I'm rambling. Obviously there's alot of ways you could go with this. It could be as simple as that he's managed to keep part of himself intact because he's just that intelligent, or your conscious/subconscious mind theory that got mentioned a few chapters back is also valid. I think I just like something a little more complex because the part of Adrian that is still Adrian doesn't seem like just his subconscious. It seems like how Adrian is as a whole, normally, both consciously and subconsciously.
...am I making any sense whatsoever?