1d ago

Living my dream

119 comments

Intent matters, and methods matter. But I think what the friend is missing is that the methods aren't bad; op is using methods developed from scientific analysis of abused animals with the intent to ethically care for them. Coming back to intent, she clearly wants to help this guy who her training is identifying as having some kind of background of abuse. The methods might be a little crude in the sense that they were developed for animals and not for people (who are animals, but animals with several distinct qualities from other animals, like the ability to communicate complex ideas), and there are different, more well-adapted methods for people, but they're only crude in comparison to those modern human-focused methods. They're still quite effective, and I would still consider them ethical for use on humans when paired with an altruistic intent, which she seems to be conveying. As long as she still views the guy as fully a person, a peer, then I see nothing wrong here.
- Intent matters, and methods matter.
  pretty much agree, it's not like she's conditioning him to sounds CLICK-CLICK good boy....
  
  Though there's probably a significant amount of people on lemmy who would be into actually that.
  
  You can absolutely condition me into doing whatever you want by cracking open a beer next to me
  
  I brought a six pack to a final exam in grad school (take the test in the same state in which you study, right?) and people around me perked up and almost literally started drooling when I cracked the first one.
  Edit: no, we engineering students don't have drinking problems, you have a drinking problem!
  
  I did accidentaly develop a kink to being called good boy.
  
  Is it really the 'good boy' part, or just the validation? Because I could say the same thing about 'good boy,' AND about every other compliment doled out to me once every few months.
  
  So much of kink is just “I like validation, and having my boundaries respected”.
  
  Me reading about bdsm: "bro aftercare is just being vanilla as heck."
  
  At this point, many contexts will make me feel weird when I'm called a good boy. And specifically good boy.
  Thanks, weirdo AI for ruining me.
  
  i don't kinkshame
- The only vaguely concerning bit I see here is the penultimate sentence. Evading consent is sketchy, but I'm not a behavioral psychologist and thus have no working knowledge on how that would impact his "treatment".
  
  I think that's what stuck for me. Manipulation takes many forms, not all look evil. She should take these observations and talk to him about it, instead of using them as tools to treat his feelings.
  
  Talk about what, though?
  "Hello, I would like to give you peanuts sometimes when you're sad. Do you accept these terms?"
  What is he consenting to that he's not already aware of?
  Speaking of pavlovian conditioning, the reason I don't like casinos, loot boxes in video games, gacha mechanics, etc., is not that I think those people haven't consented to their money being taken from them. I just don't think those are good institutions. Or practices. Whichever word applies. They take more than they give, and I don't think that's fair.
  
  You're grossly misrepresenting what this is. She got desserts and noted him as food motivated. That's insulting. He only got happy because there was food for him to eat, really? No discussion of why he was sad before, just get him snacks and move on? Maybe talk to him and ask why he seemed upset before desert instead of just giving him a snack and hoping it's better.
  The woman here is trying to change his mood or behavior through dog training techniques instead of figuring out why he feels or acts a certain way. Is he aware that she is literally treating him like a dog? It comes across as her caring about his behavior in the moment more than his overall mental health.

119 comments