From: Adam Flinton 

John Beckett wrote:
> Gene McAloon  wrote in message
> news::
>
>>anyone operating within the circumstances prevailing at the prison might and
>>probably would have behaved in the same manner as those in the photos.
>
>
> Another way to restate the idea behind this conjecture is to consider what
> would happen if you took 1000 clones of yourself (or 1000 people who fit a
> general description of you - same kind of society, upbringing, etc).
>
> What would happen if those 1000 people were somehow reborn in a different
> society where, for example, they might end up as prison guards in Saddam's
> Iraq?
>
> In other words, does brutality come from nature or nurture? Only the
> irredeemably naive would imagine that all 1000 of their clones would
> behave like saints in all conditions.
>
> Consider the well-known story of the psychology experiment where students
> are divided into two groups: prisoners and guards.
>

You've also got ye olde conundrum....be a guard or be a prisoner...i.e. if
you don't do what a guard "should" then you might end up as a
prisoner....


Adam

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