Self-pausing as opposed to...someone else pausing you?

It's as if whoever said that thinks the idea of independent thought and action is novel, or the exception rather than the rule.

What scares me most is that may indeed be the case for many of the humans (if this is so, I cannot call them "people") in our midst. The concept of "philosophic zombies", or "[real-life] NPCs" has been haunting me for years now.

The opening sequence of "Sean of the Dead" and the entire premise of "I Am Legend" both come to mind.