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persephonehazard comments on Your Strength as a Rationalist - Less Wrong
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I think many of us have actually encountered liars on the Internet. I'm not sure what you mean when you say "lacking any factual evidence".
I presume that you have encountered liars in the real world as well. Do you, on that basis, habitually assume that a random stranger engaging in casual conversation with you is a liar?
My point is that pathological liars are a small minority. So if you're dealing with a person that you know absolutely nothing about, and who does not have any conceivable reason to lie to you, there is nothing unreasonable in assuming that he's telling you the truth, unless you have factual evidence (i.e. you have accurate, verifiable knowledge of ambulance policies) that contradicts what he's saying.
DP
"Do you, on that basis, habitually assume that a random stranger engaging in casual conversation with you is a liar?"
Yes. Absolutely. Almost /everyone/ lies to complete strangers sometimes. Who among us has never given an enhanced and glamourfied story about who they are to a stranger they struck up a conversation with on a train?
Never? Really? Not even /once/?
If everyone regularly talked to strangers on trains, and exactly once lied to such a stranger, it would still be pretty safe to assume that any given train-stranger is being honest with you.
Actually, yes, you're entirely right.
In conversations I've had about this with friends - good grief, there's a giant flashing anecdata alert if ever I did see one, but it's the best we've got to go off here - I would suspect that people do it often enough that it's a reasonable thing to consider in a situation like the one being discussed here, though.
Not that I think it's a bad thing that the person in question didn't, mind you. It would be a very easy option not to consider.