I know this is off topic on this blog, but I have to post it anyway. This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen, and when I saw it the first time at TED I seriously doubted that there is any hope for mankind. I think that everyone has to see this to better understand what man is capable of if we don't actively try to be good.
Philip Zimbardo on the psychology of evil
Noteworthy is that the slide show shown in the talk was actually much longer. It just kept on going, beyond the point where I got sick to my stomach... It shows pure evil originated from ordinary people like you and me who where put in extraordinary situations. That's worth taking a moment to think about...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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2 comments:
That was a very powerful and informative video indeed. But like him I was not in the least surprised by what he presented, because, as in software development, these are just patterns that reoccur again and again and again. He does a good job at explaining how ordinary people gets "induced" to function in one mode or the other. He does not really explain why such systems emerge though, which is a complementary understanding to his presentation. To understand this better I would suggest that you read the book Political Ponerology (http://ponerology.com/), which explores the psychological reasons these kinds of systems emerge in the first place ("ponero genesis" - the birth of evil).
I wasn't surprised by the facts in this talk... but it is one thing to know and understand the facts surrounding a topic, and it is a totally different thing feel it. The slide show in this talk made me feel how evil people can become, and that takes a while to digest...
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