Idiotic experiments by American scientists

(ORDO NEWS) — Strange experiments … In fact, strange – that’s putting it mildly. Most of the experiments described in this article (and once carried out in reality) are more correctly called the most stupid. Read and see for yourself that they are worthy of this name.

Cat in touch

Intelligence work leads to pathological changes in the brain – this is not a conclusion following from another study of British scientists, this is a statement of fact. After all, only in the brain of a seasoned scout can the idea of ​​taking a cat as an assistant be born. Moreover, to demand from the state a lot of money for the preparation of the tailed James Bond.

This was exactly the plan hatched in American intelligence in the 1960s: to stuff numerous cats with various eavesdropping-transmitting-recording equipment (something like: nose – microphone, tail – antenna) and let them into the territory of the Reds. Who would suspect an ordinary courtyard Vaska or Barsik of subversive activities?

The funny thing is that almost everything worked out for American bonds. That is, a small transmitter was actually implanted into the cat. It took several years and several million taxpayers’ dollars to develop this project and put it into practice. But as soon as the tailed spy was released onto the nearest street for a final check, he was immediately run over by a car. Either during the mounting of the transmitter, the cat was damaged something inside, or the red sniffed out and decided to immediately eliminate the threat, or maybe the cat himself was not too quick – the story is silent about this. In any case, the state refused to allocate money for the next cat.

A symbol of peace

The next after the spies are the military as generators of crazy ideas. This story began during the First World War, when the Allies began to actively bomb German cities, and the Germans began to defend these cities no less actively.

The allies were very upset when they found out that not all of their bombs hit the right places, and demanded that scientists create more accurate targeting systems. It was then that … a dove was proposed as a navigator for the bombs.

Under the leadership of the American zoo psychologist Berres Frederick Skinner, the following system was developed: three pipes with a pigeon in each were fixed in the bomb fuselage. In these “cabins” there was a screen on which the image of the surrounding area was projected using a lens system. At the sight of the target, the trained pigeons had to start pecking at the screen. As they banged their beaks into the center of the screen, the projectile flew straight; peck to the side – the screen tilts, and through a complex system of levers the bomb changes course. Three feathered navigators were needed for more accurate guidance, and also as insurance – what if one of the pigeons decides to play along with the enemy?

The project was allocated 25 thousand dollars – a lot of money for that time. The funny thing is that the system, oddly enough, worked. The pigeons could actually control the bomb! But the project was closed. Most likely, the military themselves became embarrassed by the fact that some brainless birds could surpass the accuracy of the guidance of the “human” air aces. With the onset of the Cold War, the feeling of awkwardness subsided and Project Dove was resumed. It was finally closed only in 1953, when electronic guidance systems entered the scene.

“Guys, we were joking …”

But even in peacetime, when the enemy is not on the doorstep, the military comes up with ideas for the wildest experiments. And over their own colleagues.

1960 year. A combat aircraft transports two dozen soldiers from one base to another. The flight is over the ocean. Suddenly, the car leaves in a steep dive, the pilot, without even trying to hide the panic in his voice, reports on the radio that there is an accident on board, below there are two kilometers of air and two kilometers of water, there are no parachutes, and, accordingly, there are not many chances to survive. Then one of the attendants gets up and says something like: “Guys, you are all going to die now, but your loved ones can make good money on this. I happened to have insurance blanks here. Fill them in, we will put the papers in a waterproof bag, after a disaster they will find it, and your widows will remember you with a kind word more than once. ”

As a result, the soldiers, instead of preparing their souls for the transition to another world, diligently sticking out the tips of their tongues, printed letters in standard forms.

When the last form was completed, the guys were told it was a joke. Well, not that a joke, but a purely scientific experiment, irrefutably proving that a person, being in a stressful situation, commits many more grammatical mistakes than when filling out an insurance form, sitting at his own desk at home.

It is good that the guys did not have weapons with them, otherwise the experimenters themselves would need insurance.

By the way, this issue did not work the second time. One of the soldiers wrote a summary of the experiment on a hygiene bag and left it on the plane. Therefore, the next batch of test subjects, which was supposed to fly in the opposite direction, found out what awaited her.

We will work in a scientific way

But back to “civilian”. Several decades ago, all of business America was carried away by the so-called scientific organization of labor. And so, the managers of the huge Western Electric enterprise invited a group of psychologists to one of the factories so that they could use scientific methods to increase profits or reduce costs, which is also not bad.

To begin with, the psychologists were provided with a team of cleaning ladies for experiments, and the experiment began!

First of all, the experimenters increased the illumination in the workshops. The cleaning ladies immediately swept the floors much faster and cleaner. Rubbing their hands with joy, psychologists added a few extra smoke breaks – the cleaning ladies responded with even higher labor productivity. In full delight from their successes, the scientific organizers extended their lunch break – the cleaning women, by counter plan, reached the Stakhanovian pace of work.

And then the experimenters got suspicious. The lights in the shops were turned off again – productivity increased. We removed one smoke break, the second – the productivity of the cleaning ladies continued to grow steadily.

The failure of this experiment in terms of the scientific organization of labor was that the cleaning ladies began to work better and better not because they were given a few minutes to rest or had an extra light bulb screwed into the shop. But because they, the most inconspicuous “cogs” of a huge enterprise, were now in the center of attention of those around them. Respected people swirled around them, the bosses greeted them and addressed them as “you”, articles were regularly published in local newspapers covering the experiment, the center of which was they – simple, inconspicuous cleaning women.

How not to work better here? But if only this excitement ended – turn on the light, turn it off – everything would return to normal.

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