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PhilGoetz comments on Is altruistic deception really necessary? Social activism and the free market - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: PhilGoetz 26 February 2016 06:38AM

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Comment author: PhilGoetz 28 February 2016 02:17:04AM *  1 point [-]

It doesn't matter to me whether they were lying deliberately or not. The abstract question I'm trying to ask is whether a need to tell untruths is strong evidence against the worthiness of a cause. Whether the person telling the untruths knows they're untrue is irrelevant.

Comment author: Lumifer 28 February 2016 03:41:06AM 0 points [-]

The abstract question I'm trying to ask is whether a need to tell untruths is strong evidence against the worthiness of a cause.

Define "worthiness".

Comment author: PhilGoetz 01 March 2016 07:01:45AM *  0 points [-]

If you'll check the original post, you'll see I phrased it in terms of the separate valuations of the individuals deciding whether to mislead people, and the individuals deciding whether to follow such people. It does not posit an objective "worthiness". That was shorthand to try to avoid spending my life writing paragraphs like this re-writing the details of my post every time I reply to a comment about it.