How far will ordinary people go in torturing others — the shocking answer

And you thought those Jay Bybee and John Yoo memos, outlining how far interrogators could go, were shocking. Wait till you get a gander at the latest reality television show out of France.

According to an article from the BBC, a French documentary shows how easily people can be manipulated into torturing other people to the point of death. It is a take on a classic psychological experiment we've all read about. Tell people to administer electrical shock to another for some purpose and see how much pain they are willing to deliver.

BBC reports, and I don't think this an Onion-style hoax, the documentary, titled "Game of Death," will be broadcast on French TV next week.

The film makers told 80 people they were part of a game show pilot. They signed contracts agreeing to inflict shocks when other contestants failed to answer questions. They were to be paid a fee but there were no prizes.

"Egged on by a glamorous presenter, cries of 'punishment' from a studio audience and dramatic music, the overwhelming majority of the participants obeyed orders to continue delivering the shocks — despite the man's screams of agony and pleas for them to stop," the BBC reports.

Eventually the shockee falls silent, presumably dead or unconsciousness.

The man, of course, I think, is an actor and there were no 380-volt bolts of juice.

Only 16 of the 80 stopped before the supposedly fatal electrocution.

Needless to say there is a bit of controversy over the show.

What would you do to an innocent contestant? What would you do to a terrorist suspect?