Re: Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics

From: Robin Faichney (robin@ii01.org)
Date: Sat Apr 21 2001 - 16:20:14 BST

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Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 16:20:14 +0100
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Subject: Re: Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics
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In-Reply-To: <20010420201552.AAA8642@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]>; from wade_smith@harvard.edu on Fri, Apr 20, 2001 at 04:15:31PM -0400
From: Robin Faichney <robin@ii01.org>
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    On Fri, Apr 20, 2001 at 04:15:31PM -0400, Wade T.Smith wrote:
    > On 04/20/01 15:48, Robin Faichney said this-
    >
    > >But is anyone really suggesting that genuinely
    > >non-suicidal people might be influenced to commit suicide?
    >
    > More to my original ethical consternation about these experiments, and
    > JR's original wording, how else can you offer proof of influence except
    > that you've managed to make someone kill themselves?

    I don't know of any such experiments.

    > And how can you prove that unless you have people who have no inclination
    > to do anything like that in the first place?

    I'm not looking for proof. I'll adopt any hypothesis that seems more
    likely than the alternative.

    > I, personally, don't 'believe' in hypnosis because I am not hypnotizable-
    > although I totally agree that some people are highly suggestible and
    > respond as if hypnotizing were a real phenomenon. But, yes, "They Call It
    > Hypnosis".
    >
    > Well, they call it media influence, too.

    Are you trying to say that you admit it happens but you don't believe
    in it? 

    -- 
Robin Faichney
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(CAUTION: contains philosophy, may cause heads to spin)

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