Ethics of Physical and Mental Alterations Through Hypnosis?

[fickleGuy]

Hypnosis is a powerful tool obviously. Even if it doesn't have the power to change a person physiologically or alter their habbits, it can convince them that such changes have occurred.

In one of my posts I cite that I am skeptical of the CursePenisGrowth file because it seems impossible that the power of suggestion, at least to me, could in fact change a persons size. That's in my opinion.

We DO know that it is impossible to say turn a person into a werewolf. Such physiological changes are impossible and to hypnotize someone into changing into a werewolf is only to hypnotize them into THINKING they've turned into a werewolf. The same concept can be applied to any of the files that cause any form of physical or mental alteration.

I'm not debating whether or not they should be posted on this page, in fact it's an interesting file to listen to without going into a trance; The first amendment also protects everything. However, could it be wreckless to make them so available? Could someone, hypothetically, download one of these files, become absorbed by it, and be rendered mentally unstable because of it?

I claim some bias writing this because I've encountered people who are convinced that they are indeed furry's or werewolves in their every-day life and who consequently are socially difficult to tolerate (with the growling, scritching, howling, and all that wierd stuff). Personally, though the files are properly documented with warnings, I still think that they should not be so widely available via the internet or at least in a separate section with a warning emphasizing the potential social effects of engaging in such hypnotic sessions.

We can get into darwinism and say that the people that get absorbed by such files to the point of mental incapacity deserve such a fate, I'm one of them in fact. But I pose the question reguardless to stir dialogue, is it ethical to make such file widely available with little to no controll of their distribution?. Also I ask, would it be instead better to entrust such hypnotic session to face to face appointments with hypnotists where the context of the subjects mental capacity can be better evaluated and treatment via the hypnosis session being halted at an appropriate time?

I'll let the public ponder the question and the webmasters decide the action, but I'm glad there's a place on the forum where such ideas can be discussed :).


P.S. Please no flames, I thought about putting this the Philosophy Section, but since this is dirrectly concerning the site's structure, I felt it appropriate to place this post here.

[sarnoga]

I don't mean this as a flame, so please don't take it that way.

I for one, however, am entirely fed up with do gooders who want to protect people from themselves and restrict what they have access to. Of course the protections have to be designed for the dumbest and most unstable of us, thus restricting what the rest of us can have and do.

is it ethical to make such file widely available with little to no controll of their distribution?. Also I ask, would it be instead better to entrust such hypnotic session to face to face appointments with hypnotists where the context of the subjects mental capacity can be better evaluated and treatment via the hypnosis session being halted at an appropriate time?

I would ask the questioin differently. Is it ethical to try to control what adults can access and listen to? Is it ethical to make them obtain and pay for a face to face session with a hypnotist. A session that might not even be productive and with a hypnotist who may not even agree to what they want to do.

The type of mentality that would restrict adult access to files is the same mentality that restricts public access to useful drugs without first getting permission from a physician. Its great for those in the medical profession. It's like a welfare bill for doctors, as if they need it. For the rest of us its condescending and paternalistic.

The biggest thing wrong with this country is that everyone wants to run everyone else's life for them. People have forgotten how to mind their own business and let people make thier own decisions.

If someone makes a poor decision, so what. Its better to live with your own mistakes than to have to live with someone else's mistakes; and makeing and living with your own mistakes has always been a very good way to learn, if you survive it. And if you don't, nobody ever said the world was supposed to be a place free from risk. As freedom increases so does risk. As safety increases freedom decreases.

I for one say, give me freedom. Get out of my way and quit trying to protect me.

[demigraff]

I claim some bias writing this because I've encountered people who are convinced that they are indeed furry's or werewolves in their every-day life and who consequently are socially difficult to tolerate

So ... you're suggesting that files whose effects you don't like should go in a separate section?

I think most of the files are designed to cause a change of some kind, so putting them all in a separate section seems kind of pointless. If someone is listening to a file, they've read the description, they've heard the description at the beginning, and they know what it does.

Some person wants to think they're a werewolf. Should their freedom to have this desire granted be moderated by your opinion that they are difficult to tolerate?

[Slipstream]

I respect your thoughts, and understand your concerns about the files here, but I think you have to allow people to make their own decisions and be responsible enough to accept the consequences. When anyone signs up to this website and messageboard, they certify that they're at least eighteen years old and (depending on nationality) therefore over the age of consent. Everyone here is an adult and should be treated as such.

Self-hypnosis is a tool; different people can and are going to use it in different ways. Yes, it can be dangerous for some people, just as a knife is dangerous in the wrong hands, which is why a lot of shops won't sell them to minors. But the misuse of a tool is no more the fault of this website than of the retailer; you can't put everything that's slightly dangerous under control just because some people harm themselves or others with them.

Like a number of people here, I'm involved in the BDSM community, and the near-universal approach of 'safe, sane and consensual' applies just as much here as it does there. More so, in fact; in BDSM the dominant's control is over your body whereas the hypnotist's control can be over both your body and your mind. So apply those rules; don't do it unless you consider the effects of the file safe, you consider it sane and consent to its affects on you by not listening unless you fully agree to allow whatever the file says to affect you.

[fickleGuy]

In my opinion not all the files are reduced to such simple categorization. For example, I have no problem with the TrainSex(Men/Women) files or any of the training ones for that matter. Even some of the curse files seem okay, such as the CurseSharedOrgasm file or the CursePlugs file. There are many files that do not bother me at all. My reasoning being that these only affect a person in private situations, usually intamate.

The TrainDog file however is a little looser under the context for which it operates. Also the Crotch Addict file boasts:

This curse file makes you totally addicted to mens crotches. You stare at them when you walk down the street and when you talk to them. You will let them know by your behavior and actions that you are a greedy cocksucker that wants their cum.

Such transformations of the human psyche aren't inconcievable and I actually thought about listening to this one :). But the main point I'd like to make is that these cause personality alterations that extend beyond the personal or intamate life and the CrotchAddict file may even cause you to stare at any man's cock while you're talking to them :D. Something that I'd imagine would make conversations with your father awkward.

Again I'd like to reinforce the fact that I support EMG's posting of these files.

I'm not debating whether or not they should be posted on this page...The first amendment...protects everything.

I merely pose this argument becuase EMG might find interest in this kind of debate as will many others. The poll will speak for itself and if you noticed, No one so far has voted 'Yes' and I have already voted.

Thanks for the replies btw :) keep posting!

[Jacara]

Like what demigraff said, most of this site's files would belong in that "seperate section". If you go to a site called "Warp My Mind" and don't consider that to be fair warning, then that's your problem :P

I'd bet that your Furry friends consider themselves that way because it's a fun fantasy, and they did it without the help of hypnosis. Why would "making" someone act that way (really just helping them act out their fantasy, which many people do anyway) be something that involves special warning? We're all adults here, we can make up our own minds on what changes will be beneficial or not.

would it be instead better to entrust such hypnotic session to face to face appointments with hypnotists

...*snip*
You mean professionals? How many of them would accept if you went to them and said you wanted to be made to wet yourself or think you're the opposite sex? Sites like this are the only convenient place to get that kind of kink.