Polygraphs for the elimination of thought-crimes?

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Well, it was more of a guess than an assertion.

Unless we're honest and accept that it was written purely for reasons of 'humour'. Though that would be mundane and completely kill the-

HAHAHAHAH!! !! NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Eek!

it is just that the psychos i've read about over the years uniformly gave one the impression that they [per se] weren't overly stressed-out over the prospect of being caught in their lies.

Polygraphs scare me. My reactions to everything are so abnormal that a polygraph would probably say that I was lying even if I wasn't.

i'm the same way. i wonder how many folk have gotten burnt by polygraph examiners finding guilt where there is none other than a spurious guilty conscience? i feel guilty even though i've done nothing wrong, it just takes a bully to reduce me to an insecure quivering lump ready to plead guilty to anything just to make it stop.

in my city, there is a low-budget reality show about a company that performs polygraphs upon request. clients are couples who have had troubles with infidelity, or people who want to clear their names with family, etc.

the subjects themselves agree to the questions ahead of time. there have been some surprising results, and it can sometimes be difficult to tell if a person truly 'passed'. for example, an engaged person might prove that they are not currently having an affair, and they might show they don't want to cheat in the future, but the truth comes out that they don't really want to get married in the first place.


i also worry that my own reactions will prove me guilty of something i didn't do. at work, we sometimes get mass emails about some incident or another, i.e.

"if whoever took the charity money from sandy's desk could please return it today, we will not seek any further action against them. we raised $300 for MS and we would appreciate the money's safe return."

in my head, i'm thinking "did i take the money? maybe i sneaked over there on my break and forgot all about it. wait... i am sure i didn't do it but what if they think i did? what was i doing today? did i leave my desk? maybe i saw someone else take it and i just can't remember it. does that make me an accessory?" and on and on... screw the polygraph. i may as well just confess and save myself some stress.

Well- a lie dectector would not be able to detect a person giving fictional testimony if the person were so deluded that they THOUGHT they were telling the truth.
If you sincerly believed that you didnt stick up the burger king that night because you were busy that night with Empress Josephine planning the Batlle of Waterloo there would be no stress from deception detected because in your mind its the truth.

i read a few years back, about these companies that helped corporations and other rich folk deal with lie detector tests by "fuzzbusting" sessions where these lyin' folk were trained how to use their minds to befuddle the process, in a manner reminiscent of induced psychosis.

That's exactly the thought I was trying to express, thanks for saying it in such a better way!!

interesting. haha