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I'm sure it can be helped, but I'm not sure if the kind of cool Neil Armstrong displayed can really be developed. If you want a good illustration of this, hang

by rquantz 14y ago

I'm sure it can be helped, but I'm not sure if the kind of cool Neil Armstrong displayed can really be developed. If you want a good illustration of this, hang out with pilots and listen to their stories. I recall one pilot friend of mine, a flight instructor, describing an incident when he was guiding a student to landing in a small plane, when something malfunctioned and the plane started to tilt a hundred or so feet off the ground. My friend shouted "my plane" and took control, correctly diagnosed what had malfunctioned, and guided the plane to a safe landing. Analyzing what happened afterwards, a few things were determined: first, given the altitude at which the malfunction occurred, my friend must have seen the problem, correctly diagnosed it, and acted in less than a second, and the total amount of time from when it offered until touchdown was something like four seconds. Second, this particular failure had occurred on this model of plane a handful of other times at such a low altitude, and had resulted in fatal crashes every other time. So, being able to do that comes from a combination of a few things: tremendous rote training and knowledge of the plane, the ability to act calmly when your life is in peril, and an extremely efficient nervous system. Some of that can be developed, particularly the first one, and response to negative stimuli can probably be improved if you have time to think rationally, but in emergency circumstances like what an astronaut or a pilot go through, I have to say I think you're probably born that way, baby.

patrickyeon 14y ago
> I'm sure it can be helped, but I'm not sure if the kind of cool Neil Armstrong displayed can really be developed. Neil Armstrong was a test pilot. The kind of person who is told to push designs to their limits, and is responsible for keeping things in line when it's all hitting the fan. They need to keep cool, and it can definitely be developed, as I'm sure it is for any test pilot. It's developed through a combination of intimate (intuitive) understanding of your equipment and the situations you find yourself in, an expectation of yourself to be able to handle whatever's thrown at you, and repeated exposure to stressful situations, so that you are familiar and comfortable with them. I don't know how much this last one applies to Neil Armstrong specifically, but many people who keep cool in the face of death can do so because they've already accepted that death is a very real possible outcome. Even when the stakes aren't so high, if you've analyzed a situation before going in to it, and have decided that you are comfortable with any likely outcome, including the worst possible outcome, then your mind is freed from worrying and can focus on executing.
- rquantz 14y ago
  On the one hand, yes, facing death over and over again, combined with a psychological willingness to accept whatever happens, can probably take a cool headed person and give them nerves of steel. On the other hand, repeated exposure to extreme stress can also destroy a person if they're not inclined to grow stronger from it. I guess my previous point was, I'm not denying that response to stress can be improved, but there's a strong element of talent in being the sort of person willing to strap oneself to a controlled explosive moving at thousands of miles per hour in the first place.

by rquantz 14y ago

patrickyeon 14y ago

> I'm sure it can be helped, but I'm not sure if the kind of cool Neil Armstrong displayed can really be developed. Neil Armstrong was a test pilot. The kind of person who is told to push designs to their limits, and is responsible for keeping things in line when it's all hitting the fan. They need to keep cool, and it can definitely be developed, as I'm sure it is for any test pilot. It's developed through a combination of intimate (intuitive) understanding of your equipment and the situations you find yourself in, an expectation of yourself to be able to handle whatever's thrown at you, and repeated exposure to stressful situations, so that you are familiar and comfortable with them. I don't know how much this last one applies to Neil Armstrong specifically, but many people who keep cool in the face of death can do so because they've already accepted that death is a very real possible outcome. Even when the stakes aren't so high, if you've analyzed a situation before going in to it, and have decided that you are comfortable with any likely outcome, including the worst possible outcome, then your mind is freed from worrying and can focus on executing.

rquantz 14y ago
On the one hand, yes, facing death over and over again, combined with a psychological willingness to accept whatever happens, can probably take a cool headed person and give them nerves of steel. On the other hand, repeated exposure to extreme stress can also destroy a person if they're not inclined to grow stronger from it. I guess my previous point was, I'm not denying that response to stress can be improved, but there's a strong element of talent in being the sort of person willing to strap oneself to a controlled explosive moving at thousands of miles per hour in the first place.