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China Bans Shock Treatment For Internet Addiction
angry tapir writes "China has banned the use of shock therapy to treat Internet addiction after its use at one hospital sparked nationwide controversy. The hospital drew wide media coverage in recent months after Internet users claiming to have received the treatment wrote in blogs and forums about being tied down and subjected to shocks for 30 minutes at a time."
Nothing gave me more pleasure that thinking of WOW power levelers with electrodes attached to various body parts.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Does China even have such a thing as "nationwide controvery"?
Yes.
Or is the "nation" here the United States? Or maybe Canada?
No. It means China. You ought to get out more - there's a whole world out here. We have controversies and everything.
I'll chalk this one up to western ignorance over how much the Chinese public actually knows, not blatant bias.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal#Chinese_public
Honestly, this seems like another human rights abuse... people should have the right to choose if they want to go through shock therapy!
The right to an informed choice. But can someone in the throes of internet addiction really be said to be making a choice? This is why we keep shocking 'em until they consent to it. That's the begining of the path to recovery.
To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
Everyone brings up that scene as if Vaikman was messing up his experiment just to flirt with the chick, but that ignores his true brilliance. Sure, he fudges the test for her -- she clearly is not psychic, she's just there as a control, so it really doesn't matter if she ever gets shocked or not. It isn't like he's testing electrocution of normal folks. But as for the guy, how is seemingly shocked for giving the right answers -- that's the whole experiment. Vaikman even says so: "I'm studying the effects of negative reinforcement on ESP ability." In other words, will you keep being psychic even if you get electrocuted for it.
A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
The most prevalent "shock therapy" currently in use in the US is electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). It is used to treat major depression that is not responsive to drugs. It has nothing to do with retrieving or "erasing" memories, only with zapping the brain in hopes that neurochemical imbalances will be alleviated during its recovery from the trauma (shock), and hopefully for some time after.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!