Writer and commentator Ian Leslie asks, do all human societies need lies to function properly -- and if so, which lies? Listen to the full audio: www.thersa.org/...
Yes, the free will to choose to faced one's fear; thus, acting in a way that is may not seem initially to be reality, will in time become the actualization of the reality one cares to create. The success of a placebo is a reflection of how our beliefs create the reality we experience.
Btw, I'm not sure why RSA doesn't tell their viewers when the speaker has a book on the subject he or she is discussing. Turns out that Ian Leslie new book is "Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit.." It came out this past May, just in case somebody want to explore more on this.
I think some people here are so morally opposed to lying, that they remain completely closed-minded to the evidence that lying is sometimes necessary or at the very least, not harmful.
How is lying working for humanity? To deny how one participates within the framework of the reality that persists can be termed as insanity. To take personal responsibility for one's actions is not the norm; but rather, to place blame outside of one's self, even to the point of convincing one's self that to lie to one's self; thus, others, is beneficial to the evolution of humanity. Society reflects the mass consciousness in regard to preconditioned belief systems. To lead one's self, EPIC.
Nothing new but still a great argument for almost full computerization of economic life. The more pressure (especially psychological) people are under the more we lie. Thus we must liberate humans from being robots and emancipate humanity through wise implementation of technology. Otherwise, sum of all our lies in ever more complex world will result in literally final century. We brought technology to improve our lives and support our animal weaknesses.. ATM, it seems, we forgot that fact.
@Wintermutate Just because it's never been done before doesn't mean we can't do it. To stop lying is the easiest thing in the world, the problem is that most people out there do not like truth, in fact they can't stand it, they don't want to hear it, because acknowledging the truth means acknowledging that this world is far from perfect. It's easier to imagine a perfect world than to create it.
@CruelSculpture Yes, that's likely true...But could the title of the book possibly be added in a RU-vid annotation as a courtesy to those who don't watch the full interview?
@Wintermutate oh and as for unfair questions: don't hide the truth because you've attached some social outcomes to the given answers. if someone asks you how the look don't just give positive answers the whole time to save your reputation of whatever. i find it hard to even get into your mindset all i know is it's clearly wrong from the outset.
@zassounotsukushi As for children, and how to raise them, the study in africa tells alot about how we can raise our kids to be less dependent on lying. Adults hold back information from kids all the time, thinking they are protecting the children. But even at 3yo children are still human. They have a yearning for knowledge, its a survival trait. So the more you hold back from them, the better they will get at lying to make up for it. You want honest kids, you be open/honest with them.
I worked for a California State University, and its a state requirement to try* to caption all our produced videos.(the youtube caption is not accurate) The audio here is too "tinny" and I have more than a few occasion have to say what did he say? Audio quality issue mate
America is about as self deluded as it is possible for a civilization can get and rather than being on the threshold of something wonderful it's about to colapse into obscurity
@zassounotsukushi Sadly you seem like the only person not only to have watched and understood the video, but to be mature enough to consider its implications. He made a statement that if we want lying to be less effective and therefore used less, then we need society to stop harming politicians that tell the truth. He was advocating that if we understand this fact he has shown us, we can then work to overcome it to a degree, because politicians mostly lie due to how we handle truth.
you're making a flawed assumption there, that human societies need to "function properly" in the bizarre sense you've ascribed to the phrase. i, for one, like truth-loving, dysfunctional, incohesive societies, thank you very much.