Movie – Total Recall (2012)

As a Sci-Fi buff I am always on the lookout for Sci-Fi movies that make me think. “Total Recall” (2012 PG-13) does that. 
 
“Total Recall” is set in a future where you can escape the doldrums of ordinary life by going to a Recall Center to have fictional experiences implanted directly into your brain. Vacations, fantasies, or adventures can be played directly inside your head as if they happened, instead of the reality of being strapped in a dentist-like chair with glowing electrodes on your head. After the “experience” is over it stays with you, a memory, along with all the others you have that are based on actual experiences.  
 
The protagonist in the movie is Douglas Quaid, a factory worker. Douglas feels the increasing urge to go to a Recall Center for a vacation. His buddy at work advises against it, urging caution with anything that involves tampering with the brain (sound advice).  Still, Douglas decides to go, and it is the scene when he is conversing with the Recall practitioner, still unsure but clearly in the throes of being sold, that stood out to me.  
 
Douglas argues, “What is the value if it’s not real, it’s all just in your head?” 
 
The Recall practitioner counters with, “What is reality but what our brain constructs it to be?”  
 
This scene, this idea, won’t let go of me. Our reality IS the construct of our brain. 
 
Regardless of the far-fetched technology, our reality is what our brains say it is.  Think about that, our reality is what our brains say it is. If completely new memories could be implanted in our heads they would change our reality. Different memories would change who we are. 
 
Notwithstanding genetics, which has a significant role in our character, we are the sum of our memories and experiences. Change those memories, and you will change your reality. 
 
So, what does this mean? Who cares? It means that we have more control than we think.  If we can convince our brain that we possess certain attributes, we will possess those attributes.  
 
Now, idle aspirations won’t be enough to trick our brain. A few thoughts will not overcome accumulated memories to the contrary. But consistent thinking, coupled with actions as reinforcers, has the potential to change who we are, in any direction, good or bad.  
 
So, we can decide on a trait we wish to have, focus on it, begin with small actions that are indicators of that trait and build a storage of memories in our brain. Actions can be as small as the words we say to describe ourselves. Tentative actions based on those words, then habits, then physical evidence accumulated by our habits, become solid reinforcers of who we are. Once the brain takes hold of the idea that we have that trait, it is our reality.  
 
Confidence, loyalty, tenacity, scholarship, kindness, and toughness can be cultivated.  So can hopelessness, cruelty, and depravity.   
 
This is why the words we use, on ourselves and on others, are potential influencers to be wielded with care.  
 
Thankfully, whole memories cannot be injected straight into our heads, shaping us, changing us. But we can change our own reality by CHOOSING to make specific memories.    

Fun, thought-provoking, not for young kids, sci-fi, paradigm shift

Movie: 1 hour, 58 minutes