One of my favorite blogs, Cognitive Daily, posted an article reviewing the publication of a study by Berger replicating the famous experiments by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s and 1970s. Milgram's experiments tested obedience to authority by having a study volunteer administer electric shocks to an anonymous participant under the direction of a person in a lab coat. If you aren't familiar with the study, read the Cognitive Daily account. Berger's study was done about two years ago and the results were statistically insignificantly different from the original study. As recently as two years ago, people were still willing to fry the hell out of someone if a guy in a lab coat told them it was okay. As I read this article, I could not help but think about all the abuses of power we have witnessed in the last several years, from the Patriot Act to Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo. I remembered my father's favorite cartoon from Pogo with the now infamous lines: "We have met the enemy and he … [Read more...]