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Portal (game) trivia. cw: "enhanced interrogation".
The iconic companion cube was inspired by what writer Erik Wolpaw called a "declassified government interrogation thing". This turns out to be the CIA's 1963 "KUBARK" interrogation manual, which was declassified in 2004 in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Here's part of the Portal script side by side with the relevant section from the manual, highlighting the identical parts. Makes the whole thing less funny and more just plain dark.
Portal (game) trivia. cw: "enhanced interrogation". Transcription.
Portal: "The symptoms most commonly produced by Enrichment Center testing are superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations."
KUBARK: "The symptoms most commonly produced by isolation are superstition, intense love of any other living thing, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, hallucinations, and delusions."