CCC comments on White Lies - Less Wrong

38 Post author: ChrisHallquist 08 February 2014 01:20AM

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Comment author: CCC 10 February 2014 07:59:05AM 3 points [-]

In my experience, people who commit to not lying are less accurate and less trusted than those who don't.

This runs contrary to what I would expect.

Could it be that people who commit to not lying:

  • Do not follow up on their commitment
  • Proceed to twist their words so as to be dishonest without technically lying
  • Or is there some other reason for this?
Comment author: Douglas_Knight 11 February 2014 05:06:39AM *  0 points [-]

Failure to keep the commitment is not the problem in my experience. A person who deceives by technical truths usually gets a reputation as a pathological liar; a well-deserved reputation, I would say. Self-deception is a much bigger problem for accuracy. But that hardly scratches the surface of the problems.

You have a theory. Theories are great! But test it. Pay attention to people's reputations for honesty, accuracy, and trustworthiness.

Comment author: CCC 11 February 2014 09:15:57AM 1 point [-]

This will be difficult. In my limited experience, very few if any people are intentionally dishonest with me. (I may simply be very lucky in that respect). This puts me in a fairly poor position to gauge other people's reputations for honesty.

Accuracy is another matter entirely. Accuracy is a function of intelligence and of the ability to accurately observe the environment. I can easily see accuracy being entirely independent of any commitment against lying.

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