I say that it was good that the studies were done. Society both deserves and needs to know about "the dark side of human nature". Deserves, because I and every other individual deserve to know the truth about myself, and studies on what humans will do in such situations can illuminate that. Needs, because unless we all recognize our potential "darkness," we can't guard against it. I haven't seen any studies on whether being familiar with the Milgram and Zimbardo studies makes one less susceptible to, for instance, shocking a person when told to, but I want to see one.
ETA: I know more about the Milgram experiment than the Zimbardo one, so while I mention both this comment mostly refers to the former.
In March, a user on Reddit emailed psychologist Philip Zimbardo (leader of the Stanford Prison Experiment) to arrange an "IAmA" interview. Zimbardo agreed to answer the top 5 questions from this thread. Yesterday his answers were posted here.
The chosen questions touched on research ethics, what he originally expected to learn from the experiment, the role of psychoactive drugs in society, reading recommendations and more.
After responding, Zimbardo posed a question of his own to Reddit: