Steve Blank: Gravity Will be Turned Off

yan · on May 13, 2009

Just another variation of the Milgram experiment[1], highlighting people will have a much higher likelihood of believing extraordinary claims and orders from their superiors.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

callahad · on May 13, 2009

Belief or not, if there was even the possibility of a "tie-down inspection," you better believe I'd have my things tied down.

gustavo_duarte · on May 13, 2009

If you have never read it, I recommend checking out "The Psychology of Persuasion":

http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Busine...

It's a fascinating examination of persuasion. It covers selling, business, cults, authority - a great and practical intro to some of the research and results in the field.

bemmu · on May 13, 2009

Or maybe we are the experiment, to see whether people would actually believe a story so incredible.

randallsquared · on May 13, 2009

I was in the US Army in the early 90s, and this would not be a particularly incredible story for where I was stationed.

ryanwaggoner · on May 13, 2009

I was in the Navy in the early 00s. Ditto.

jjs · on May 13, 2009

This wouldn't happen if you'd paid your gravity bill, Steve.

fserb · on May 13, 2009

So, this is the people responsible for radar, navigation and electronic warfare. Great.

stcredzero · on May 13, 2009

Ironically, according to Steve, the people who developed the above are responsible for Silicon Valley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFSPHfZQpIQ

stcredzero · on May 13, 2009

In other words: Cultivate your own Reality Distortion field.

Create · on May 13, 2009

http://www.zagrebdox.net/2009/en/program/competition/regiona...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Dani