RE: Ok, how about Brainwashing?

["Eric Benson" <ebenson@xxxxxxxx>]

> sleep and when they wake they are a great tactician? What about waking
> up and knowing Karate?

Part of the problem is Karate - and most other sports requiring strength
*and* coordination - is that a good part of learning the art is learning how
to get *your* body to do the appropriate sequence of actions.  You can teach
someone the fundamentals of how to do a tornado kick, for example, in less
than a class period.  Getting the body to actually do it take far longer.
Take a look at how a yellow belt does a roundhouse kick and how a blue belt
does the same kick.  Nominally, they both "knew" how do the kick after the
first couple of practice sessions.  The difference is learning control of
your body.  Arguably, control is one reason why some people can easily go
from sport to sport, while the rest of us spend years trying to get to the
same place.

A second part of the problem is actually being in the appropriate shape to
perform the actions.  What do most martial arts class spend the warm up
period doing?  Stretching muscle groups that you often don't use in other
sports/activities.

As an example, say we brainwashed a 35 year old out of shape computer
programmer so that he was a karate master.  Suppose for a second that he
actually *knew* the art as well as the master did.  What happens the first
time he goes to do a flying front kick?  Probably a swing and a miss.  Even
if he knew the skill the same way the master did, size and body differences
would require relearning (or at least practicing) the skills.

> Can they wake up knowing Mandarin?

Children and adults have different language learning skills.  Take a look at
a recent immigrant and their children.  In most of the cases I've seen
(primarily with Chinese graduate students and their children), within a few
years, the kids were more fluent than the parents.

Something to consider in general is that there are a number of learning
models that have been developed.  Regardless of which model you talk about,
it's pretty clear that not everyone learns the same way.  Someone who learns
through examples (concrete sequential), for example, would probably not
retain and understand information the same way as someone with a different
learning style (abstract random/abstract sequential).  The net effect is
that for maximum retention and learning, the brainwashing style would have
to be tailored to the target.

> No remorse is easy.  The prisons are full of them.

Remorse, IMHO, is culturally and morally based.  Change the moral structure
and you'll change when or if people show remorse.

-Eric