This story is interesting for two reasons; the ethical implications are incredibly complicated and the actual testing – affecting personality and changing it, treating undesirable traits to manage behavior. Thinking about the debate around praise in children, how this ripples outwards other behaviours in society. Ties in really well with what I’m reading now about aggression in The goodness Paradox which I’ll write up when finished on DI&C or Level 3 if I am up and running with it by then.
“A team of scientists in Spain is getting ready to experiment on prisoners. If the scientists get the necessary approvals, they plan to start a study this month that involves placing electrodes on inmates’ foreheads and sending a current into their brains. The electricity will target the prefrontal cortex, a brain region that plays a role in decision-making and social behavior. The idea is that stimulating more activity in that region may make the prisoners less aggressive.” (Samuel, 2019)
I am also reminded of the weird test I had to do before applying for a job – psychometrics. It wasn’t just the test that I found fascinating, but the video that explained how to do it which preceded it. It promoted this very idealistic paradigm, even down to the high pitched sing-songy voice of the woman talking (an employee). I do keep thinking about that 70s film Logan’s Run (1976). Need to think about this, watch it again for sure and see where is anywhere it takes me. Social media, language (the nonsense people speak) the yearning for perfection via our advertising, simulations – and the current policy which results in the culling of people (we might argue about whether its intentional or unconscious, but hard to deny it’s proactive and methodical) via harsh strategies which fail to support those at the bottom of society.
See https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/austerity-results-in-social-murder-according-to-new-research
https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/13/woman-depression-told-can-manage-homeless-council-8899570/
and
Plato’s Ideal Society – need to look at this, notes in the meantime.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-utopia/notes.html
Shortly after posting this, I read the Spanish prisoners testing had been postponed by the government after the news about was made public last week.
Hi