Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

The simplicity bias (4): the truth

We expect people to tell us the truth. It’s as simple as that. Yet, we know that people may lie to us. Again, it’s as simple as that. Karl Popper learned us that there is not one (1) truth. There are three kinds of truths: absoluteobjective and subjective. The rest is either a misleading half truth or a full lie. Expecting to hear the truth is another example of our simplicity bias.

In my 2019 blog, I explained the meaning of Karl Popper’s three truths:

  1. Absolute truths: possibly only in mathematics (eg, 1+1=2) but we will probably never be able to prove its comprehensive application throughout the Universe;
  2. Objective truths: also known as proven and undisputed facts (eg, Earth is round);
  3. Subjective truths: also known as opinions as the source believes it to be true.

Considering the above, it should not come as a surprise that research (eg, BBC-2014BPS-2020PT-2013PT -2013) shows that humans are (very) bad at detecting lies. 

A fundamental explanation for our inability of detecting lies is that people are hard-wired for cooperation; not for competition (my blogs). Humans are social individuals (sic!) and long to belong to groups. The mental health crisis following lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic proves this assertion.

In some ways, the truth might be viewed as a standardised rule in our communication (see yesterday’s blog). Hence, my use of the word expectation above (my blogs).

Expecting to hear the truth has a lot of advantages and you can still control the downside of giving your trust. Any signal that this trust may not be warranted will jeopardise cooperation. 

Expecting to hear falsehoods has a lot of disadvantages because your mind must go in overdrive to filter all incoming signals for potential lies. Paranoia seldom gives peace of mind. Hence, cooperation is probably impossible and competition is probably more likely.

“Anyone who imagines they can work alone winds up surrounded by nothing but rivals, without companions. The fact is, no one ascends alone.” A quote from the 2000 book It’s Not about the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong.

Policy of Truth (1990) by Depeche Mode

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Note: all markings (bolditalic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.

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