Torture, without physical harm!

I dont know if this already exists but here it goes.

This is a Sensory-deprivation tank, now instead of physical harming an agent/terrorist etc to get information out of him/her this idea could work.

You inject the person with something that will knock them out long enough to get them into this tank and set it all up, the tank is totally filled with salt so they are floating but still underwater.

Now when this person wakes up, they cannot see anything except for white light all around them.

They will feel like they are floating and will not know where they are or what has happened to them, all they feel is that they cannot touch/smell/see anything.

When this happens to a person they no longer think that they are alive because humans need to be able to interact with their environment, touch/smell etc

They are now all alone, no sound, no contact, no idea about the time, just pure white all over and the sense of floating in air.

Now when a person is in this state for so long they will question themselves to be alive or dead and keep them in long enough and they will eventually think they are dead and will regret everything they have done wrong and wish for another chance.

Slowly allow someone who is good at manipulating people to speak to them (Dont forget the person in the tank cannot see anything!) and get whatever information you want out of them, infact this person could act like god.

Is this possible? Any governments have this already?

I would like to hear any ideas/comments.

wow sounds bad must suck good find

Hey Dr. Kevorkian, you've got too much free time on your hands!

I have a few suggestions as well as questions:

"You inject the person with something that will knock them out long enough to get them into this tank and set it all up, the tank is totally filled with salt so they are floating but still underwater."

May I suggest Ny-Quil. A double dose will give you a good 10 hours or so.
If the tank is totally filled with salt, where does the underwater part come in?

"Now when this person wakes up, they cannot see anything except for white light all around them."

It would seem to me that if the tank was totally filled with salt, then all one would see is salt.

"They will feel like they are floating and will not know where they are or what has happened to them, all they feel is that they cannot touch/smell/see anything."

Dude, you're losing me now! If they're totally packed in salt will they still be able to breathe? Let's say they can. Wouldn't one then be able to taste the salt? "Sensory deprivation"!???? I think I would ask for some more Ny-Quil at this point.

"When this happens to a person they no longer think that they are alive because humans need to be able to interact with their environment, touch/smell etc"

Not true. I think that they would think that they were an oyster on the half-shell.

"Now when a person is in this state for so long they will question themselves to be alive or dead and keep them in long enough and they will eventually think they are dead and will regret everything they have done wrong and wish for another chance."

When a person is in THIS state for too long they won't be wishing or regretting anything, they'll be shriveled up like a raisin. It would be sort of like mummification without removing the blood and organs.

"Slowly allow someone who is good at manipulating people to speak to them (Dont forget the person in the tank cannot see anything!) and get whatever information you want out of them, infact this person could act like god."

Sounds like a job for my girlfriend.

"Is this possible? Any governments have this already?"

Doubt it! Sounds like it might be a little costly. You're better off just making them sit in a chair and watch Beverly Hills 90210 re-runs.

I'm sure Hannibal Lechter could find a place for you in his practice.

Peace out

interesting idea

however being in the water will cause their skin to prune, which would be a give away

In extended periods of sensory depravation, especially visual perception, the pineal gland 're-activates' and releases the chemical '___', one of the most potent hallucinagens known to man kind and an endogeous neurotransmitter in mammals. Some early religous practices and initiations used this process for theological implications, egyptians were purported to actually use sensory depravation chambers, and many other cultures would send initiates in to caves, the total darkness eventually causing this 'religous' chemical process.
I have no doubt that the experience is fairly bewildering but a modern sensory depravation chamber is a pretty big and complicated mechanism, I have a hard time seeing it as a widespread method of torture, however there are many religous and scientific usages of sensory depravation. Some scientists are using them to study neurotransmitters specifically. I have a bit of information relevant to '___' on another thread here...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by markjaxson
Now when this person wakes up, they cannot see anything except for white light all around them.

If there was light then the person could see the tank, themselves, the liquid solution, etc. Defeats the purpose of sight deprivation.

Well, another thing...

How would they breathe underwater?


Ice

"Now when this person wakes up, they cannot see anything except for white light all around them."

It would seem to me that if the tank was totally filled with salt, then all one would see is salt.

Not totally packed with salt, just enough so they can sort of float but underwater if you know what i mean.

"They will feel like they are floating and will not know where they are or what has happened to them, all they feel is that they cannot touch/smell/see anything."

Dude, you're losing me now! If they're totally packed in salt will they still be able to breathe? Let's say they can. Wouldn't one then be able to taste the salt? "Sensory deprivation"!???? I think I would ask for some more Ny-Quil at this point.

The tank will not be totally filled with salt, it would be filled enough for them to keep underwater but not be able to sink to the bottom.

"When this happens to a person they no longer think that they are alive because humans need to be able to interact with their environment, touch/smell etc"

Not true. I think that they would think that they were an oyster on the half-shell.

Take it your being sarcastic.

"Now when a person is in this state for so long they will question themselves to be alive or dead and keep them in long enough and they will eventually think they are dead and will regret everything they have done wrong and wish for another chance."

When a person is in THIS state for too long they won't be wishing or regretting anything, they'll be shriveled up like a raisin. It would be sort of like mummification without removing the blood and organs.

Well not technically, ever been waiting to see your doctor? Waiting in a room for 30 minutes seems like hours doesnt it.
Well even in waiting rooms etc you can at least look at other patients etc you have something to do but time still drags like hell, imagine having nothing to do at all,NOTHING, you cannot touch anything, you cannot speak/smell/hear anything, now this would be strange!

And i think this person could be put into some sort of wetsuit but they wont know they are wearing it, so they would not shrivel up.

And they would be wearing some sort of mask, oxygen available etc but because the person will have the effect of drugs that makes them insensitive to any sort of touch.

And twitchy thanks for your post, didnt realise it was used many many thousands of years ago, its quite interesting reading about this sort of stuff.

Well, for starters we'd have to replace the salt with another substance... as has been said, salt water dessicates human flesh pretty fast.


A breathing tube could be rigged up easily enough, but it would detract from the 'deprivation' thing... and we'd have to make sure that the prisoner didn't remove their breathing tube and drown themselves as well.

Well, for starters we'd have to replace the salt with another substance... as has been said, salt water dessicates human flesh pretty fast.

What? The person would have some sort of wetsuit on, the drugs would not enable him/her to feel ANYTHING.

Even if they did not wear a wetsuit the person would not need to be in the tank for more than a day maybe 2 days at the absolute maximum.

Imagine not being able to do anything except for the sense of floating around and only being able to listen to what you are thinking for 48 hours.

Just try sitting down on your sofa staring at one fixed point for 2 hours doing nothing but thinking this will give you a terrible feeling, now it is not that bad because you know whats going on you can do anything you want but imagine not being able to anything you want you are only alive in as you can only think to yourself and nothing else.

I have been in a salty sea for over 12 hours in a day and my skin was fine, abit wrinkly but absolutely fine, the person would not have to be in the tank for long before they crack.

Ya'll are all talking about (though you may not know it) something called "tanking" ---it's been around for awhile--ever seen Altered States?


"Isolation Tanks: The State of the Art"
Esquire August, 1983

A recent body of research into tank experimentation in hospitals, clinics, and graduate psychology departments was made public for the first time at Denver, and from a welter of medical statistics and laboratory data emerged convincing evidence that even brief sessions in float tanks can cause mental and physical transformations"

www.oasisfloatarium.com...

I can see where you "might" be able to use it as a sort of torture, but the whole idea behind an isolation tank, is the word itself...isolation.

I have tanked several times, I can assure you that unless something traumatic happened to you BEFORE you were tanked, you would not "believe" you were dead...you can still hear the water when you move, you can still feel yourself breathing, you would be able to take your pulse, etc etc. The sensation of floating comes from the large amounts of epsom salt they use and the fact that the water is at body temp.
As a psychological tool the isolation tank would be very effective, but that is about all it would be good for.





[edit on 14-11-2004 by NetStorm]