4.3 KiB
[DC?] Exploiting overpowered Veritaserum?
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Author: u/ToaKraka https://i.imgur.com/OQGHleQ.png*
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/2wojfu/dc_exploiting_overpowered_veritaserum/
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Score: 12
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Created: 2015-02-21T19:15:54
Post:
In this story (30k words, complete), Veritaserum forces anyone who imbibes it to tell even truths known only subconsciously:
"How can you remember the full prophecy, Harry? You were only a baby when your parents died. Nobody remembers that far back," said Amos.
"Not consciously," said Harry, "but the Veritaserum makes it impossible for me not to tell the truth if I know it, even if I don't realize I know it."
Still under Veritaserum, Harry then goes on to detail various items (including all the Horcrux locations) that he's subconsciously absorbed through his connection with Voldemort.
I was just wondering whether anyone had any other interesting ideas for exploiting this version of Veritaserum.
Comments:
u/None [+17] (2 hours later)
So uhh.. pretty much every bit of information a person's brain has been in causal contact with should count as "subconsciously absorbed" information. Veritaserum would then turn them into the equivalent of a perfect Bayesian agent. Or at least a close approximation, since presumably someone must still ask the right questions. So at minimum, a really good Oracle.
u/TimTravel [+9] (6 hours later)
Could it prevent mental mistakes? That could be useful on its own.
It depends on how powerful it is.
"There are no bugs in this program."
"This 3SAT formula has a solution."
"This Turing machine halts."
"This mathematical statement is true."
"It would be in my best interests to do X."
u/ArisKatsaris [+4] Sidebar Contender (2 hours later)
Well if 'subconscious knowledge' is revealed by Veritaserum, and if Veritaserum usage is harmless enough, I'm guessing that scientists/engineers/people working on all sorts of problems would use it to see if their unconscious minds has figured out a solution that their conscious minds hasn't grasped.
Usage in psychology also looks highly likely, letting a patient hear himself speak obvious truths that they nonetheless don't acknowledge to themselves.
u/ToaKraka [+2] https://i.imgur.com/OQGHleQ.png (2 hours later)
Yes, it's used as a psychological aid on several people in the linked story. Unfortunately, no research is included.
u/eltegid [+1] (a day later)
That is assuming the human brain stores information with perfect fidelity, which is not true, concious or subconsciously
u/MoralRelativity [+3] (a day later)
Thanks for sharing. That was an interesting read.
u/okaycat [+2] (2 hours later)
I like the chapter with Luna. It was very different from her usual fan fiction potrayels.
Anyway this version of verisetum would be very useful. Not just for scientists, engineers etc but also as a tool for introspection. Imagine using this for therapy, you would learn so much about yourself.
u/chaosmosis [+7] and with strange aeons, even death may die (6 hours later)
Hmm. Spin: people who ingest veritaserum too frequently usually become depressed or suicidal or insane, because veritaserum tears down all the biases that protect normal human beings' self concepts.
u/helltank1 [+3] Unfriendly AI (a day later)
For a perfect Bayesian, information would never have a negative utility value. So the more rational you are(an the more capable of handling difficult truths), the more useful Veritaserum would be.
I'm imagining a "Veritaserum Users Anonymous" group where they all get together and repeat the Litany of Gendler.
u/darkflagrance [+2] (5 days later)
You would want to use Veritaserum as a data fusion tool; it apparently harnesses the subconscious's "magical" ability to correlated seemingly unrelated or unremembered data. You could attempt to tease out patterns from massive databases using the human mind. Of course, I'm certain you would soon run into limitations of the subconscious not yet fully known to science.