User talk:Moulton/Reed College Prison Experiment

Come on, friend. No one likes this stuff. Auggie 03:52, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

There are a lot of features of human culture and human behavior that are undesirable. And yet these undesirable practices persist and recur. Moreover, they seem to recur at all levels of society, from the highest levels of government down to the pettiest levels of playground politics.

We have here a remarkable opportunity to examine an otherwise commonplace repetition of the kind of abuses that have plagued humankind since the dawn of civilization.

What compels otherwise well-educated and decent people to discard their moral compass?

Moulton 06:04, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Money, power and corruption? Tex 12:30, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

• "Corruption" is another name for "losing one's moral compass" so I'll suggest a variant of your list. According to a scholar who once led a seminar on the subject, the three most powerful drives that lead humans astray are the drives for money, power, and sex. And I think it's fair to say that we've seen all three of those drives at play in WikiCulture. But with respect to the present study, only power seems to be in play. Moulton 13:49, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Except in the case of Horsey. Auggie 14:54, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

• As far as I know, Horsey is not a member of the Four Obnoxious Moderators of the Apocalypse. Moulton 18:52, 23 September 2010 (UTC)