I've been kinda daydreaming about this lately. What would the world be like without lies? For the sake of this discussion I'll define a lie as a falsehood told intentionally to decieve for any number of reasons.

A "friend" of mine for example; He's been very helpful to us in many ways. The problem is you can't believe anything he sez. He lies for his own amusement, to play his games, to avoid responsibility for his own mistakes and actions, to project the illusion of his own "perfection". He doesn't seem to realize how transparent he actually is and how genuinely untrustworthy his constant lying makes him.

Then there's business lies ranging from the check is in the mail to "Yup, just like new and its only got 24,0000 miles, owned by a granny since new." And lets not forget, no new taxes, no nation building, "No, I did not have sex with that woman."---the list goes on forever.

So---how would the world be different? Would it be better? Whats the economic impact of lies?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2003

Answers

Good Question John. Different? Well, a whole lot of people who live in a world would at the very least not be waiting for someone who isn't going to show up anyway (repair men, plumbers, etc.).

Clients of businesses would get some welcomed honesty though. No way are you going to buy that house and stay within your budget. No, we are planning to stall you as long as possible before beginning to pay what we owe you. That sweater would look better on your dog than you - take it off NOW!

I think you are right - a reputation for lying really hurts the person doing it far more than it helps - he / she becomes quite the pariah at gatherings, someone who people would tend to distance themselves from.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2003

There would be a lot more hurt feelings because society would no longer be required to be considerate of the feelings of the more genteel.Best part people wouldnt be able to lie to themselves. Just think a world where everyones shit stank and all the rest of the world could see just how rank you were. That combined with the fact that we could still fight, would make it heaven. Just think no more deceptiveness or wariness because we t"think" someone is being deceptive. We would just march over and take what we want from you because we would know the true you and you would know the true us. The weak could run but they would eventually succumb because a weakling couldnt "bluff" anymore. Yea a world without lies would be better....for some of us , but not all. Remember lies are often a means of self preservation too :>)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2003

Thats true enuf Jay but I like to think we as a race (human) can do alot better than we do. Merely because truth telling would be the order of the day does not mean law, crime and punishment, would no longer be operative. It would just mean we could actually become what the law presumes to have us be.

Personally I think after we got over the culture shock we would become a much more genuinely civilized people.

Just think, people actually being forced to be responsible for them selves, being unable to hide behind deception. That would be novel.

The value of truth is that it attempts to reflect reality. You say lies last. Maybe some of the negative side effects do but truth endures because its in synch with the greater reality while lies die because they are not.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2003

Really to get to the heart of the matter you have to know that humans ARE lies. I mean that in an ego sense. We are egos who to protect themselves and build themselves up by lying. We come into this world nothing and go out nothing and in-between lie our asses off trying to convince everyone how smart and how important we are!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2003

Its a sweet dream . but it will never materialize as long as mankind is comprised of more than one gender :>)

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2003

The reason "sweet dreams" rarely come true, both on an individual level and in collective culture, is because most people continue to believe they cannot. And so it is....

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2003