Well, they do touch on desensitisation as a potential route to how he ended up as he is, so it's possible that he's equally desensitised to gruesome imagery. They don't mention much about the control subject other than that he's also a climber - but he may come from a culture where the kind of imagery described is less prevalent.
I'm a high sensation seeker - I don't climb, but I do skydive, bungee, and I love to ski at ludicrous speed down unmarked terrain - flying off a cornice that you didn't see and having to think fast about where and how to land is a crazy rush. Why I mention this - I can identify with the visualisation and memory rewrite process he describes. I am, by no means, master of my amygdala - but more often than not I am. I think about the bad possibilities of anything I'm about to do, and visualise avoiding or dealing with them. I rehearse in my head. By the time I get to the real thing it's old hat. There's no fear, just supreme confidence that I know what I'm doing. It's the same sort of process one goes through before pitching to a customer or investors. Rehearse mentally until it's easy, even if you've never done it before.
When I do have an unfortunate experience, like chopping off a thumb, knocking myself out, or shattering a hand because I forgot that trees are quite hard at 100mph, I revisit it until it's funny, and no longer regrettable and associated with pain, both in my own mind and by recounting the tale. Having a wilful disregard for the integrity of your own body is quite useful - I know I'm not bulletproof but I don't mind the missing and numb bits.
That all said, once in a while I find myself with shaking legs, tunnel vision, and all the rest - usually from stupid and inconsequential shit that, critically, I didn't anticipate - like his ten foot fall.
I remember the moment I figured it out, aged seven, halfway down an icey mogul black, panicking and crying, and then suddenly realising that I didn't know what I was scared of - and then blasting down the piste, realising that it was all about just believing that you can and it'll all be fine and just getting on with it.
Anyway. My two cents is that you can self modify and override "hardwired" behaviour with only moderate conscious effort, and far more people do this than we currently realise.
I'm a high sensation seeker - I don't climb, but I do skydive, bungee, and I love to ski at ludicrous speed down unmarked terrain - flying off a cornice that you didn't see and having to think fast about where and how to land is a crazy rush. Why I mention this - I can identify with the visualisation and memory rewrite process he describes. I am, by no means, master of my amygdala - but more often than not I am. I think about the bad possibilities of anything I'm about to do, and visualise avoiding or dealing with them. I rehearse in my head. By the time I get to the real thing it's old hat. There's no fear, just supreme confidence that I know what I'm doing. It's the same sort of process one goes through before pitching to a customer or investors. Rehearse mentally until it's easy, even if you've never done it before.
When I do have an unfortunate experience, like chopping off a thumb, knocking myself out, or shattering a hand because I forgot that trees are quite hard at 100mph, I revisit it until it's funny, and no longer regrettable and associated with pain, both in my own mind and by recounting the tale. Having a wilful disregard for the integrity of your own body is quite useful - I know I'm not bulletproof but I don't mind the missing and numb bits.
That all said, once in a while I find myself with shaking legs, tunnel vision, and all the rest - usually from stupid and inconsequential shit that, critically, I didn't anticipate - like his ten foot fall.
I remember the moment I figured it out, aged seven, halfway down an icey mogul black, panicking and crying, and then suddenly realising that I didn't know what I was scared of - and then blasting down the piste, realising that it was all about just believing that you can and it'll all be fine and just getting on with it.
Anyway. My two cents is that you can self modify and override "hardwired" behaviour with only moderate conscious effort, and far more people do this than we currently realise.