From: Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 15:43:32 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: Jim Bell goes to Jail!
In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19970519001431.007548dc@netcom13.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <19970519002811.31774@bywater.songbird.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Mon, May 19, 1997 at 12:14:37AM -0700, Lucky Green wrote:
> At 10:28 PM 5/18/97 -0700, Alan Olsen wrote:
> >(There are also a number
> >of 
> >psychological studies that show that people will do all sorts of horrific 
> >things to their fellow man when someone in authority tells them to.  If they 
> >are led to believe that they are "bad" in some way, many will enjoy it.)
> 
> Right. I read a book on that. I think it was called "The Millgram
> Experiment". Normal people would administer (fake, but they didn't know it)
> electroshocks to a subject even after the subject had stopped moving and
> could have been assumed to be unconscious or even dead. An excellent
> demonstration of the power of authority. And the gullibility of the average
> person.

Present company excepted?  Of course, studies have shown a majority 
of Americans think they are better than average drivers...

The most important lesson of that study is that in this regard we
*all* are average persons.  There isn't any magic pill, or personality
trait, or belief system, or special knowledge, that makes us immune to
manipulation. 

-- 
Kent Crispin				"No reason to get excited",
kent@songbird.com			the thief he kindly spoke...
PGP fingerprint:   B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44  61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55
http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html