Complex Numbers

Doom

5 Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is Doomed

...As it turns out, it's usually fear of repercussion that keeps us from torturing our fellow human beings. Give us absolute power over somebody and a blank check from our superiors, and Abu Ghraib-esque naked pyramids are sure to follow. Hey, if it can happen to a bunch of Vietnam-era hippie college students, it sure as hell could happen to you...

http://www.cracked.com/article_16239_5-psychological-experiments-that-prove-huma...

Now, I've linked that website a lot, and as I've said before, it's a great source for snark. But this particular article, while funny, is also more than a little sad.

It's not mentioned much, but it goes back to the concept of the monkeysphere - which I found, to my great surprise, got migrated to cracked.com.

http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

Anyway, I don't have any more time - I have to go ignore some damsels in distress - but I was wondering if the results of some of those studies would be different if they'd used, say, the subjects' mothers instead of random strangers.

I imagine in some cases it'd be worse.

Reminds me of a joke. Three guys go in to interview for a position with the CIA. The interviewer hands the first guy a gun. "In the next room is your wife. You have to shoot her to prove your loyalty and willingness to do what we tell you." He doesn't tell the guy the gun is loaded with blanks.

First guy looks at the gun, sets it on the desk. "I can't do it," and walks out.

Second guy gets as far as the door to the next room, then chickens out.

Third guy walks into the room and comes out fifteen minutes later all covered with scratches. "Something was wrong with that gun," he complained. "So I had to beat her to death with the chair instead."

The second time I heard that joke, the applicants were female and the person in the next room was their husbands. People seem to like that version better.