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Torture is never about getting intel.

Is about causing pain to someone they hate, and at most about getting a confession no matter if true or false.

But what's the fun in that?

Im uncomfortable.

I would quibble here and say that torture is actually an incredibly civilised act. I mean this not as an endorsement, but rather in the sense that only highly 'civilised' societies appear to have every carried out systematic torture. It seems to require a great deal of centralised, bureaucratic control in order to prevent instincts like empathy from preventing it.

It's also worth pointing out that torture, as defined in a UN convention that is pretty broadly ratified is much broader than we normally think of it. It is defined as follows:

For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.

Which I think is food for thought. Portrail of torture is incredibly systemic in media, and I think we are numbed to it a great deal although I don't know which way causality goes there. How many of you have seen cops handling someone roughly with the intent to hurt them or intimidating someone to make them pliable as routine 'justice'? That is literally torture by a convention that it is highly likely the country they work for has ratified.

What an interesting read, thank you for the link!

I'd encourage everyone to read more about his life before and after becoming an interrogator, but I found a tl:dr of his methods

The Scharff Technique was defined by four key components: 1) a friendly approach, 2) not pressing for information, 3) the illusion of knowing it all, and 4) the confirmation/disconfirmation tactic. (The latter strategy is when an interrogator presents a claim in the hope that the prisoner will confirm or disconfirm it—it’s what Scharff used to learn about the tracer bullets.)

There is a faction in 40K, which are somewhat like Cenobites. Basically hedonistic elves who will do Cenobite levels of shit to you.

In a novel one gets captured and instead of playing his game, his kidnappers deprive him of the one thing he craves: stimulation. He basically gets bored into submission.

Pinhead: "We have such sights to show you..."

CIA: "Aw man, I was really looking forward to torturing it out of you. You're just gonna spill the beans before the fun?"