3 ms·

What did you find fascinating about it? (I assume you're referring to the content of the journals not the story about it)

joshvm 11y ago
There is a certain morbid curiosity about it, for the same reason that people watch Big Brother obsessively. Worth watching "The Lives of Others" if you haven't already, though that deals with other problems. There is an argument that laboratory psychology testing is prone to bias. Any study which relies on self-reporting is liable to people under or overestimating. Any study which requires consent inevitably attracts people who would be interested in being experimented on. Morality aside, performing experiments and studies on people who have absolutely no idea what's going on is the ultimate way to remove bias. The sort of 'results' that come out of Foos' 'study' are fascinating because they simply cannot be obtained by any legal means. People behave differently when they know they're being observed. However fascination doesn't necessarily imply scientific utility... The sex is actually the least fascinating thing about the journals - even Foos was continually disappointed by how dull his subjects were sexually. What's interesting are his observations on the minutiae in people's lives, the mundane things people do when they know they're not being watched (even something as 'weird' as sitting on a toilet backwards).
joshontheweb 11y ago
The story and the journal. I actually just got back from an overnight getaway with my wife last night where we stayed in a small privately owned motel. I couldn't help but find myself wondering who could have been watching. This sort of thing would be much easier to pull off with todays technology and I'm sure that it does happen more. How violated would I feel if I found out that a creep motel owner was watching? How would I feel about that compared to the government surveillance that is happening. I can confidently say that I am far more worried about big brother than the motel clerk. Although neither are welcome. I suspect there are many gems in his journals that mirror societal norms and deviations of the time. The inter-racial sex trends. The 70 orgys. I never knew you could sit on a toilet sideways or backwards. Why would you do this? Maybe I'll convert, who knows! The fact that he explained it all away in his mind is especially curious. It is easy to judge but are we as a society of major consumers of pornography and reality tv really that far away from this guy? There are some obvious legal distinctions in his actions but the compulsion seems alive and well in most people. The whole story just brought up so many questions and curiosities. EDIT: Spelling

joshvm 11y ago

There is a certain morbid curiosity about it, for the same reason that people watch Big Brother obsessively. Worth watching "The Lives of Others" if you haven't already, though that deals with other problems. There is an argument that laboratory psychology testing is prone to bias. Any study which relies on self-reporting is liable to people under or overestimating. Any study which requires consent inevitably attracts people who would be interested in being experimented on. Morality aside, performing experiments and studies on people who have absolutely no idea what's going on is the ultimate way to remove bias. The sort of 'results' that come out of Foos' 'study' are fascinating because they simply cannot be obtained by any legal means. People behave differently when they know they're being observed. However fascination doesn't necessarily imply scientific utility... The sex is actually the least fascinating thing about the journals - even Foos was continually disappointed by how dull his subjects were sexually. What's interesting are his observations on the minutiae in people's lives, the mundane things people do when they know they're not being watched (even something as 'weird' as sitting on a toilet backwards).

joshontheweb 11y ago

The story and the journal. I actually just got back from an overnight getaway with my wife last night where we stayed in a small privately owned motel. I couldn't help but find myself wondering who could have been watching. This sort of thing would be much easier to pull off with todays technology and I'm sure that it does happen more. How violated would I feel if I found out that a creep motel owner was watching? How would I feel about that compared to the government surveillance that is happening. I can confidently say that I am far more worried about big brother than the motel clerk. Although neither are welcome. I suspect there are many gems in his journals that mirror societal norms and deviations of the time. The inter-racial sex trends. The 70 orgys. I never knew you could sit on a toilet sideways or backwards. Why would you do this? Maybe I'll convert, who knows! The fact that he explained it all away in his mind is especially curious. It is easy to judge but are we as a society of major consumers of pornography and reality tv really that far away from this guy? There are some obvious legal distinctions in his actions but the compulsion seems alive and well in most people. The whole story just brought up so many questions and curiosities. EDIT: Spelling