From: Robin Hanson (hanson@econ.berkeley.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 18 1998 - 11:38:25 MST
Damien Sullivan wrote:
>A world where everyone was incapable of lying would probably outcompete our
>own, if it had some immune function so defectors couldn't expoit the system.
>For one thing the market would run much more smoothly, I'd think.
If the world only changed so that each lie now told is replaced with
the truth, well sure things get better. But that's a pretty shallow
social analysis. One should ask how people would adjust to being
unable to tell (conscious intentional) lies, and then see if things
are still better. It's not so clear to me.
Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/
RWJF Health Policy Scholar FAX: 510-643-8614
140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 510-643-1884
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