Virtual Mind Games Revive Controversial Experiment

Alert Focus: The Mystery of Lawlessness 2 Thessalonians 2:7a For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work;... LIVE SCIENCE.com - By Charles Q. Choi - December 20, 2006 -- Infamous experiments almost 50 years ago discovered that ordinary people—under orders from an authority figure—would deliver apparently lethal electrical shocks to complete strangers. The disturbing findings both shed light on the limits of human behavior and the mind but also ignited an ethical controversy that has made it impossible nowadays to further explore this area directly. Now scientists are conducting these experiments against computer-generated virtual people, where no real people appear to get hurt. The hope is to better understand why people commit horrific acts against their fellows, such as torture or genocide, while potentially overcoming the ethical concerns against the original experiments. These new findings build off the pioneering work of psychologist Stanley Milgram at Yale University who began his controversial experiments in 1961, months after the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann began. Eichmann, responsible for the mass deportations of Jews, gypsies and others purged during the Nazi reign furthered his notoriety by insisting he was only "following orders” when confronted with his crimes. ... [See link for full article] http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/061220_cyberexperiment.html FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.