the milgram experiment
as is the ritual, while driving home from dropping the kids off on a friday, i will usually call someone i know to entertain me for a while. it's a 45 minute drive, and seems the perfect opportunity to do some networking...
anyway, tonight's victim was mike. mike and i discussed quite a few things, our topics spanning his work on the script he's writing to the stupidity of 'jackass'. in the course of our conversation he mentioned an experiment that was done involving a woman shouting at and hitting a supposed boyfriend on a street corner. people were recorded as they passed, and for the most part, they ignored it, although some women actually cheered the angry female on. after these people had passed, they were asked why they hadn't intervened... i guess the experiment, in the end, concluded that men had a history of aggressive and oppressive behavior, and thus, the actions of the woman was perceived as acceptable.
mike disagreed, and i'm with him. it seems more likely that people viewed the man as being historically the 'stronger' of the two sexes and was thus more likely to take care of himself. i suggested that if the roles were different, for example, the woman was larger, the male perhaps behaving as he was being hurt, then the people passing by might have a different attitude.
either way, this conversation reminded me of the 'milgram experiment' which i'd read about recently. i believe there was an article on slashdot about it, because it's been reproduced in a 'game environment'. i don't know that it could be as effective this way... but i didn't read THAT article.
i heard about it ages ago, and the concept intrigued me. you have a study of people. basically, you have the test administrator, an actor being the student, and a volunteer as the teacher. the test is rigged so that the volunteer, who doesn't know the student is an actor, is always chosen as the teacher.
the concept is simple. the administer lays out the rules, the teacher is the 'teach' something to the student, who will demonstrate it. if the student fails this, the teacher is to 'shock' him with a device in front of him. the student and teacher are separated by a wall or curtain.
the experiment begins, inevitably the student will begin to fail and shocks are administered. each failure means a higher shock. a surprising number of people continue with the experiment, up to the highest level (they believe is 400 volts or so).
in reality, no one is shocked, and the study is simply to see how many people will do as their told.
this wiki article explains the details much better than i do... but the premise is there.
this is astounding, but only to a degree. it's not that hard to believe that people will do things blindly in a situation where they feel it's 'acceptable'. much like you would expect someone in a grocery store will shop, someone in a doctors office will breath deeply when the stethoscope is on their backs, this is a situation where people are in what they know is an experiment, and are under the impression that this behavior is acceptable. in almost every situation, the person acting as the teacher becomes very uncomfortable, but will generally continue on well beyond what someone reading about it believes they, themselves, would.
human nature is an interesting thing to say the least.
godly kitten!
i lol'd... i have no idea where i found it... but it's great!
are you serious?
cnn.com reports that the army is asking for their dead and wounded officers to re-enlist. they're doing their part, are you? join the mobile infantry. service guarantees citizenship!
wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
i don't think i got to this before, mostly because i didn't have this blog when i first found it, and if i did... screw it, you probably didn't read it anyway...
this is phenomenal. only the japanese could be this thorough, and wonderful...
gizmodo shows you all the silliness that is the wii manual! a great flickr layout of 'the missing pages'...
this only strengthens my resolve that, regardless of tubgirl, and tentacle porn... the japanese are the greatest people on earth.
and... i must own a wii!
christmas rare exports
dec. 25th may be gone, but these guys are working hard on next years holiday!
i strongly encourage you to watch these... no matter what. however, they're about ten minutes long each, so, set aside a little time...
they are rare exports parts one and two. short films from jalmari helander, who's finnish, i think. the first, i believe, was nominated or won an award for the best european short fantasy film méliès d'... or something... i don't know... they're fucking breathtaking, and amusing.
just watch...
steve ballamer... microsoft ceo?
how much money does this guy make? he should have some dignity... don't watch this.
kansasonitantianites is dumbed
read this, it's retarded.
OHNOESRUNsANDHIDEs!!!elelve!11!!n!!12
makes me laugh so hard i could actually pee... i know... it's not that funny, but shut-up, alright?
fusion power!?!?
it sounds freakin' star trekky... but, i guess not... read this, which is about this, and then look at this... in that order, probably. wow. klene nuklier powar!
did you get all that? me neither... but it sounds neat!
feel free to scratch your head in confusion... you might want to get yourself some snacks too...
last week i talked about the DREAD...
this week we're taking a look at what samsung's been up to... it's a robot! with guns! halt! present hall pass!
sure, it's not on a 3G network, nor does it have a camera option or play mp3s... but damn, it's slick. heat / motion tracking with a machine gun all in tidy sentry package. now, if these guys and the dread guys got together, they might just be on to something...
but that robot is nothing....
compared to honda's asimo... or... is it? maybe theirs won't fall down the stairs like this one does...
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1 comment:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1281426.html
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