T.M. Cullen wrote on Apr 24
th, 2008 at 6:01pm:
Quote:It's pretty well established that the more you know about how the polygraph really works the less likely you are to be able to pass it
Not true. The more you know, the better.
TC
My skepticism extends to claims about the ease with which countermeasures can be used. I think a dishonest person is probably better off using countermeasures; he or she may beat the system and if detected will be no worse off than if ruled deceptive. And, of course, if a person is going to use countermeasures the more he or she knows the better.
But I am not certain that an honest person is better off using countermeasures than just being ignorant. Of course, you cannot put the genie back in the bottle. Once you have tasted from the Tree of Knowledge of the Polygraph there is no return to the Eden of Ignorance. Once a person has gotten as far as this forum they probably don't have a choice anymore: they already know too much.
In any event, people using countermeasures is
always a bad thing for polygraphers. If a dishonest person uses them successfully polygraphers lose for passing someone who should fail; if an honest person uses them unsuccessfully polygraphers lose for failing someone who should pass; if a dishonest person uses them unsuccessfully polygraphers are slightly worse off than if they'd found the subject deceptive; and if an honest person uses them successfully it discredits the polygraph in his or her mind, reduces it's deterrent value, and makes it more likely that others will use countermeasures in the future. It's a lose-lose-lose-lose situation for polygraphers.
Thus the Polygraph Imperative, which states that polygraphers should do everything they can to keep people ignorant of the polygraph and keep them from questioning polygraphers, even if this means making people generally ignorant, incapable of critical thought on any subject, and unwilling to question anyone in authority.
Due to the logic of the Polygraph Imperative, polygraphers consider a group of dumb, ignorant, easily manipulated people to be more desireable than a group of smart, critically thinking, and questioning people because the former is easier to detect in lies than the latter. Incidentally, the following groups and people have their own, basically identical, veriant of the Polygraph Imperative:
- Astrologers
- Creationists
- Conspiracy theorists (all types)
- Practitioners of "alternative medecine"
- Holocaust deniers
- Homophobes
- Con artists
- And many more!
So, by working to make the population stupid and easily manipulated, polygraphers are unintentionally helping all of the above. Think of how great society is going to be soon!