Re:Why spies never discover anything useful
by DanBC on Tuesday December 03, 2013 @04:13AM
(#6839354)
You quote a sentence that says "Torture can get useful information (if the person being tortured has that information) - no one doubts that", and then say that is wrong, and then say that torture can get useful information.
Yes, if you torture the right people you will get useful information. People who are tortured will give up the information they have at some point.
The problem is that we often torture people who have no information, and so they tell us what we think we want to hear.
Re:Why spies never discover anything useful
by thaumasiotes on Tuesday December 03, 2013 @09:18AM
(#6840344)
Yes, my "you are wrong" was not denying that torture can get useful information. It referred to the comment "no one doubts that", which is wrong. That's why I followed it by saying "for many people it is an item of faith that torture cannot produce useful information".
You are wrong. For many people it is an item of faith that torture cannot produce useful information. In my opinion, these people are generally overattached to the principle that good results come from (morally) good acts, and evil acts necessarily produce bad results.