We get used to sf props like flying cars and hyperdrives. What is a hypnoprobe (scroll down) and how often does it appear in sf?
In one of Asimov's Wendell Urth sf detective stories, the police need to find not sufficient evidence to charge a man but only a smaller amount necessary to authorize a psychoprobing. Thus, in this single story, this sf prop is used to make the detective's job easier.
Needless to say, Poul Anderson does not use the hypnoprobe just as a convenient prop but puts it to dramatic use in the stories of Dominic Flandry's fiancee and also of his illegitimate son in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows. Nevertheless, I think that we would appreciate more background information on what a hypnoprobe is and how it works.
Addendum: For another interrogation technique, see here.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Perhaps even more to the point is the way Poul Anderson used "sensory deprivation" as an interrogation method in WE CLAIM THESE STARS and MURDER IN BLACK LETTER. And I wrote a long article discussing sensory deprivation and whether it could rightly be used. My conclusion was that it could legitimately be used in the right circumstances and if done with the care shown by Dominic Flandry.
I know too well this comment will also disappear! (Sighs)
Sean
Paul and Sean:
H. Beam Piper had the "veridicator," which scanned the subject's brain for indications of a lie, flashing a red light when it detected such signs. EVERYONE giving testimony in court did so under veridication. It was generally agreed to be infallible when used on humans; with one fellow, the veridicator even registered that he was THINKING about lying just then, AND picked up a half-truth: his description of his scientific accomplishments included a study for which he hadn't given sufficient credit to a colleague.
A plot point in one book was the possibility that a certain extraterrestrial species was so different in brain function that the veridicator couldn't catch their lies. This was a problem because all of them encountered so far had been completely truthful; how could it be proven that the machine WOULD register if they lied? As a lawyer said, "... to prove that Fuzzies tell the truth, we must first prove that they tell lies."
Use of a veridicator in another book included the statement, to a captured enemy militiaman, "That globe'll light blue; the moment you try to lie to us, it'll turn red. And the moment it turns red, I'm going to hammer your teeth down your throat with the butt of this pistol."
Kaor, DAVID!
Darn! I really should have kept my "Little Fuzzy" books! Alas, I discarded them because I thought Piper's Little Fuzzy stories annoyingly and cloyingly "sweet."
The "veridicator" would seem to have been an advanced form of polygraph whose use, per se, would seem less open to debate than sensory deprivation.
Sean
The "verdicator" is actually probably possible.
Recent research indicates that making a statement you know to be false involves a specific brain region, which invariably activates before the false statement is made.
In other words, it indicates not the truth or falsity of the statement (you might believe something that was in fact not true) but the -intent to deceive-.
Polygraphs essentially detect tension. Lying usually -does- produce tension (especially if you're hitched to a polygraph) but they can be beaten by training, or when dealing with a sociopath, who doesn't feel tension when he lies.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
And I recall how you and Jerry Pournelle had Col. Falkenberg's Intelligence team use a kind of advanced polygraph/"veridicator" to interrogate the traitor Croser in PRINCE OF SPARTA.
Sean
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