Brutal, unsubtle brainwashing: how does it work?
The purpose of the machine was obvious from the elegant cruelty of its design:
- The seat restraints and the seat's solid, one-piece, gold-colored metal structure made it clear that whatever it did, was intended to be done against the initial will of those subjected to it.
- There was an eldritch mass of writhing, thin silvery coils and tentacles situated at head height that somehow suggested this would be a very invasive procedure.
- The transparent, yet seemingly sound-proof spherical casing placed around the seat indicated that during its active state the patient is very unlikely to be quiet.
Rynn's new friend walked around the sphere, gazing inside. She shuddered, and looked back at Rynn.
"How ghastly," Rynn said.
"Don't your amulets do much the same thing? Make people see you bathed in an aura of goodness and purity, interpret your words and actions in the best possible way?"
"Haha," Rynn laughed. Alice couldn't help noticing the laugh was warm and the voice crystalline. Rynn's brief, wide smile was the embodiment of good-will, in a strange dissonance with the torture chamber they were in. Apparently, the amulets worked perfectly well even when you were aware of them.
"Perhaps they do, but in a passive way, unlike this kludgy thing," she continued. "I mean: Tentacles that burrow into the skull? Rather unsubtle and primitive, is it not?"
"Effective enough nonetheless, based on what we saw outside."
Rynn nodded, somberly.
How would an indoctrination (also known as brainwashing, mind control, coercive persuasion) device actually work? Can such a device even exist? For the purpose of this exercise I refer to the 'unsubtle' version:
- Intensive use can turn a sworn enemy into an adoring (slavish even) friend, or (bonus level) plant a false idea or memory firmly inside one's mind as unquestionable truth.
- The effects, once in place, are permanent absent other later strong(er) stimuli.
- This may (or may not) damage the subject in physical and neuro-permanent ways.
- It would work by known physical principles or reasonable extensions and interpolations thereof (no magic or psycho-babble), such as (but not necessarily) by acting on the pain and pleasure centers.
- More specific, detailed answers will get my upvotes.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/14561. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
As Pavel says, brainwashing is a process. And it's a process that's been done already.
1995, Russia. The Cold War is over. Boris Yeltsin in power. There is some resentment left over from the Cold War, but generally people are starting to see Russia in a better light: they didn't, after all, nuke the lot of us, and OK there might be some good things about them.
Wait. There is some resentment left over from the Cold War. Why?
During the Cold War, there was a period known as the Red Scare. It was caused by what was, essentially, a brainwash of the US population - the US government (under President Truman) distributed so much propaganda and gave such bad impressions of the Reds (Russians) that people believed them.
You can read more about the Red Scare here.
This is what brainwashing is. Not cold, metal devices. Not high technology. Not even shoving a gun to someone's head or beating them almost to death. Yet it's still brutal. It's still unsubtle. Nobody ever tried to hide the fact that the US government was saying that the Reds were poison; they shouted it from the rooftops. All that mattered was that not the entire truth was told.
All you need to brainwash someone is for them to trust you a bit. People didn't totally trust the US government, but they believed that what they were doing was right - they wouldn't just lie to all their people about an issue of national interest, would they?
That belief in you enables you to tell people things. And when you tell people things enough, they start to believe them. Now you have two people spreading your cause. And when each of them makes another believe them, you have 4. Then 8. Then 16. 32. 64. 128, 256,512,1024 2048 4096 and the cycle keeps going. You now have an army of people who believe what you believe, and because you opened their eyes to this new light, they revere you above others. And nobody's going to argue with that many people, are they? Are they?
Maybe, maybe not. Maybe eventually you'll get one doubter, and they'll start a revolution.
Although Rynn's new friend - Alice - trusted her, Alice felt a sense of doubt hanging about this place. Rynn was changing people's perceptions, changing the way they looked at her and the world.
"Alice? Are you coming?"
"Give me a moment - I want to look at this thing," Alice called, indicating the machine.
"Oh come on. Don't you believe me or something?"
"Of course. Come on then."Alice hurried off with the strange young woman. She'd forgotten her doubts for now. But deep in her mind, the sliver of doubt took root - and began to grow.
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