The Big Picture: On The Subject Of Violence

[Use_Imagination_here]

Even if you could prove beyond reasonable doubt that all the past "big" shootings that have provoked media attention were all the result of violent media, and only violent media, that number would still be statistically irrelevant compared to literally any cause of death in america, and would by no means make it reasonable to ban or restrict any type of media in any way.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

So what happens if we can actually prove that human actions are more or less completely determined by genes and upbringing? That the criminals were inevitably going to be criminals given their circumstances? Should we still throw them in prison for something over which they had no control? When the idea of free agency dissolves so will the idea of moral responsibility, punishment and good and evil.

Allready can. Didn't change anything.

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=102082

If you're to lazy to read it, basically you can test a toddler for effectivness of fear conditioning at the age of three and based on that information much more than half the time accurately predict whether or not the child will commit a crime later in his life. This mind blowing and incredibly useful discovery has so far been completely ignored and used to help no one in any significant way.

 

[XDravond]

very needed snip

Thank you, I see your points about France and Germany and I agree. Legalize drugs might work but I would start with better school system instead since it's a lot about "well educated" (generalization) people tend to do less violent crimes. Plus they create less children do it would solve two "problems"
Check out the latest "trade agreements" to start with how USA tries to rule the world or just go to an airport security check, without USA pushing for more (non working) controls we would not have them.
And I am very well understanding of the fact that no matter how clever the individuals are the group is incredibly dumb... I've been in a couple of "groups" that has taken decisions that all after has thought were stupid...
Who to say who is crazy an who is just blinded by things like faith... I'm sure I'm right, you are sure I'm crazy, who is right?
Thought about Buddhism but even though I'm quite sure I could give up my ties to the world I don't agree enough with their view of some things like "after life"etc....
One word I learned in Sweden is what the world need to practice more of "lagom" ~not to much not little, just right amount... "lagom" with liberties and "lagom" with restrictions and "lagom" with egoism and "lagom" with altruism and so on, the only problem is defining how much "lagom" actually is So let's make the world a bit more Swedish just after defining the "lagom" amounts for everything...
Violence isn't bad it's when it's directed towards others it is... I find more peace with my violence chopping down a thick tree with and ax than beating the people annoying me up...
And I'm free to say whatever I want it really doesn't matter where I am Ireland, UK, Norway and so on, in some countries I would need to be able to convince a jury about my rights to my statements but mostly no one would even bother...

And now two quotes I picked up on my way towards whatever comes:
"Violent video games are like peanut butter," said Texas A&M University's Christopher J. Ferguson told Reuters when that study was published.
"They are harmless for the vast majority of kids but are harmful to a small minority with pre-existing personality or mental health problems."

Individual persons are clever.
However.
People, are dumb, panicky and dangerously retarded.

/thank you and good night, it has been interesting but I am now bored with this discussion. =)

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

So what happens if we can actually prove that human actions are more or less completely determined by genes and upbringing? That the criminals were inevitably going to be criminals given their circumstances? Should we still throw them in prison for something over which they had no control? When the idea of free agency dissolves so will the idea of moral responsibility, punishment and good and evil.

Allready can. Didn't change anything.

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=102082

If you're to lazy to read it, basically you can test a toddler for effectivness of fear conditioning at the age of three and based on that information much more than half the time accurately predict whether or not the child will commit a crime later in his life. This mind blowing and incredibly useful discovery has so far been completely ignored and used to help no one in any significant way.

I skimmed it, and while quite interesting, it clearly only points our one potential cause of criminality. While it would suggest that we treat anyone who had that particular trait, it wouldn't be enough to stop all criminality. They aren't even sure what the exact cause is. They postulate that it's some sort of malfunction in the amygdala, but I don't think they actually looked at all the subjects' amygdalas to test that. Frankly you'd probably need more evidence than a simple skin response in order to single someone out for treatment; i.e., you'd need to find a way to test for the exact neurological mechanism that has been proven to be the cause.

You'll need overwhelming neuroscientific evidence before you convince society to start treating criminality as a disease. This study is just one small step in that direction. The next step would be a more thorough understanding of how the amygdala affects criminality. A posssible experiment would be to find some way to temporarily inhibit the normal function of the amygdala in a large group of individuals and see if they are more prone to steal a pen or something they've been told is valuable than the control group.

It was interesting though, thanks for sharing!

 

[Sofus]

Unless we see a dramatic increase in violence from the majority of those that have been exposed to said media then I don't think banning anything will solve any problems.

To me it is no different than if some psycho went on a killing spree proclaiming himself to be Isaac Newton. I mean it's not like we would ban science all of a sudden.

How about we ban Fox news to start with.... as a test if you will. If that doesn't fix the problem then I doubt any media can cause anyone to go kill another person.

 

[MovieBob]

wow, the first worthwhile video on this topic I've seen in quite a while. I'm impressed. Thanks for making this video, very, very good job.

 

[Jeteye]

This feels ,sadly, too relevant 7 years later.