Would you rather sit and think or get an electrical shock?

[Emily Lake]

I question your assumption. You may be able to prepare yourself for the pain associated with the shock, provided it's a relatively low level of pain. But it is still electricity entering your body. I don't know that it's a good assumption that one can condition themselves to continued external electrical jolts being applied to the system.

Why not. You tolerate radiation to get a tan.

False assumption I don't tan.

The question is poorly formed. Humans are active social beings. Typically thought is performed in preparation for action. Knowing the button will give one a shock sets the table for preparing to take the shock.

I think there's maybe a difference here. Maybe it's a line in the sand on a spectrum.

Yes, if you know that someone is going to say, punch you in the stomach, you can prepare for it and brace, so it doesn't hurt as much. If you know that a pain is coming you can prepare so that it doesn't surprise you. In some cases, you can accustom your body to absorb some types of impacts and become inured to them.

On the other hand, however, I don't think that "knowing it's coming" is going to do much to condition one against lobotomization. I can't imagine it's going to help you condition yourself against amputation. I don't think you can train yourself to become inured to water in your lungs from drowning.

Some pains are not injurious, or are only low-level injuries that aren't actually dangerous. I'm not entirely sure if this is the case with electricity. A very short, one-time shock is probably not a problem... but given that our brains and our entire system essentially runs on electricity, I'm not certain that "preparing" for it mentally is actually all it takes. Mental preparation might reduce the surprise and the perceived pain of it, but I don't think it will reduce the actual current or voltage that is passing through your body and potentially causing damage to your system.

Maybe I'm wrong. I just don't think that you can "willpower" electricity into not being electrical in nature.