(urth) Torturers?
James Wynn
crushtv at gmail.com
Wed Aug 4 18:19:23 PDT 2010
On 8/4/2010 7:25 PM, Jack Smith wrote:
> Yeah. Torture is a good way to gain confessions, but not necessarily
> a way of getting the truth. If you waterboard me, I'll confess to the
> Lincoln assassination to make you stop.
Well, if a "confession" is all that is sought, then, yeah, torture isn't
useful for ascertaining the truth. But if the goal is information, and
the subject _has_ that information, then I suppose torture would work
just fine. I mean, if one would confess to the Lincoln assassination
under duress, I suppose he might also give up his _actual_
co-conspirators and their future plans.
It would be easy enough to learn whether the subject is making things up
just to make you stop.
On 8/4/2010 6:57 PM, Dave Lebling wrote:
> It is specifically stated that torture in the Commonwealth is a
> punishment, not a means of obtaining truth. The Guild performs exactly
> the tortures ordered, and the torturers are taught to completely
> ignore anything their victims say. Severian is chided for listening to
> a victim at one point during his apprenticeship.
I presumed it was only apprentices who were taught to ignore victims
words. Master tortures are those assigned to seeking truth.
u+16b9
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