Comment by logfromblammo

Whoa, whoa, whoa. You've got a problem in your design specs, buddy. Torture devices aren't supposed to cause pain, they're supposed to generate compliance.

Now you also have to consider your market segments. Some folks--we'll call them the Jack Bauers--need to maximize the compliance per time unit ratio. Sure, those devices are probably going to be painful. And expensive. So good profit margins there.

But also consider the compliance per energy unit ratio. Your basic oubliettes and music-blasting oubliettes fall into that category, along with emetic-laced meals and gratuitous bureaucratic nonsense runaround. That kind of customer is looking for something cheap, almost by definition. So maybe we look at that like a subscription service.

...wait. The torture device was a metaphor, wasn't it?

So let me point out the problems with your metaphor.... ~

What kind of geek doesn't at least temporarily lose sight of the big picture while obsessing over the cool and interesting details?