You are right on target when you say that mad scientists have a total disregard for the well-being of others. We don’t want to spread evil; we just see no point in bothering to spread good. Richard M. Mathews In an online discussion, one person characterized the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment as “abusive in the worst way, causing lifelong physical and psychological trauma”. As they “were conducted without informed consent, & the reason that Institutional Review Boards were established in Universities and Hospitals.” If you don’t know the two studies, you find the descriptions on Wikipedia (Milgram Experiment and Stanford Prison Experiment). I like the description of the Milgram Experiment on the Wikipedia illustration: “The experimenter convinces the subject (“Teacher”) to give what he believes are painful electric shocks to another subject, who is actually an actor (“Learner”). Many subjects continued to give shocks despite pleas of mercy from the actors.” Both studies are quite famous in psychology — or rather quite infamous. When I read ethical guidelines for psychologists, I sometimes get the impression they were written with Milgram in mind. But I also think that the two studies were severely misunderstood. And given their infamy, [...]
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