The art (and science) of lying

boing
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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/02/the-art-and-science-of-lying.html

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Please complete the following: Trump is famous for his standard-setting in The Art of…

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I thought I stopped lying at age 45 because I just didn’t give a crap anymore.

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It’s around the age you finally internalize the lesson that most people are ok with screwups if you are honest about it. Lying only makes it worse in the end and requires a lot more effort.

Or maybe that’s just about the point where you’ve “made it”, in the “fake it till you make it” strategy.

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“I don’t give a crap anymore” == “lying requires far more cognitive resources”

The math checks out.

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Honestly, I’m too lazy to lie. The effort involved in creating and sustaining a good creative fib just aren’t worth it.

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The art (and science) of lying

Soon to be followed by “How to be a douche bag and make friends”.

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But isn’t that exactly what a liar would say? :wink:

ETA: More seriously, I’d posit there are three main reasons people lie:

  1. To avoid being treated a certain way (e.g. a gay person lying to avoid being fired).
  2. To manipulate people.
  3. Privacy.

Did I miss any?

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…treason.

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Maybe the things that people lie about changes with age. I imagine that it’s easier to lie about doing your homework than it is to keep an affair a secret for instance.

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Liar,Liar was an amusing one-time view, but The Invention of Lying was a wonderful, timeless story I come back to every now and again. They’d make a good double feature.

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It sounds like you missed the implied complaint that you woke him up with your text.

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Because it’s easier or to spare the listener’s feelings.

“I would love to meet you for lunch, but I have this meeting at work.” seems nicer and requires less justification than “I really don’t want to meet you for lunch, Susan.”

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Excellent point. Grazi.

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See, we’d have to know you to know what you’re implying about your friend. As we don’t know either of you, your story is drifting off into impenetrability. It might make a good lie, as most people would let it go, not caring enough to hack through the weeds to get to the truth of the matter.

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Maybe your friend was picking winners.

VERB [WITH OBJECT]

British

  • Name (a horse or greyhound) as a probable winner of a race.

‘Harbinger is napped to win the Novices’ Hurdle’

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In the case of Trump, there is no “art” to his lying. He lies consciously and purposefully. He lies like a squid releases ink, as a smokescreen of self-protection. He is totally post-truth. His followers stick to him BECAUSE he lies so willingly. They love for him to enrage the libs, and blatant lying about the obvious is a major part of that. Truth is irrelevant to them.

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how can this be though? the median age of government officials is surly older then 45. Maybe ethat’s why they fall back on stonewalling.

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