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so should everyone lie to you to make you comfortable? I don't care if truth makes me uncomfortable. It was something I realized as part of growing up. I'd rath

so should everyone lie to you to make you comfortable? I don't care if truth makes me uncomfortable. It was something I realized as part of growing up. I'd rather be uncomfortable than being told lies and foolishly believing them. At first I thought truth hurts, but it not truth that hurts. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12690423 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12690423

Koshkin 10y ago
> lie to you to make you comfortable People do that all the time, and for a very good reason. Life in a society where everyone only speaks truth would be impossible (which is why, for instance, atheism is not very popular).
- rubberstamp 10y ago
  that is impossible today only because people now a days don't have wisdom. Only a small minority has the ability to see through the bullshit unimportant noise we are constantly bombarded with. In CS terms, only true data has value and is therefore knowledge. Other data is just noise and is of no value.
  - Koshkin 10y ago
    That seems to be a very narrow view of what is valuable. Works of fiction have value. Even fairy tales do. (You may argue that even those contain elements of "true data", but still...)
    - rubberstamp 10y ago
      We both may be trying to make the exact same point. Sorry if the CS analogue caused more confusion. Not all knowledge is considered to have true monetary value. Many kind of business practices is not necessarily knowledge or truth. Some practices are even out right manipulation and ethically illegal. To me valuable is human culture, its history, how we could advance science and tech without its misuse to grab more power etc. As I read more and more, thought about various things that I read, observe things happening around me, read history and think the need of violence and such stuff, it got me various perspectives. I would hate anything but the truth. One's opinion about something is not necessarily truth and we get mostly uncomfortable about someone else's opinion. But dont we not want the true fact even if it is uncomfortable?
      - Koshkin 10y ago
        Point is, learning truth does not make people happy, in most cases. On the contrary. Truth, as far is our lives is concerned, is almost invariably ugly. This is why children are normally much happier than adults - they just know less.
        rubberstamp 10y ago
        learning truth doesn't make people initially happy as truth doesn't match what they were expecting. over time learning truth as early as possible would align people's expectations more in sync with reality. So in the future their expectations about something will not be wildly off the mark as they will expect more realistically and hence result in less disappointments. So I would say learning truth will help people be more happy
- ionised 10y ago
  > which is why, for instance, atheism is not very popular I'm struggling to understand what you mean by this.
  - Koshkin 10y ago
    Thing is, weird as it may seem, in most modern societies, even those that count as enlightened ones, proclaiming yourself as an atheist won't get you far, as the social and political life is concerned. For example, no candidate for US presidency, in their right mind, would openly admit being an atheist. And that is despite the official separation of church from state.
    - ionised 10y ago
      Ah, I understand.

Koshkin 10y ago

> lie to you to make you comfortable People do that all the time, and for a very good reason. Life in a society where everyone only speaks truth would be impossible (which is why, for instance, atheism is not very popular).

rubberstamp 10y ago
that is impossible today only because people now a days don't have wisdom. Only a small minority has the ability to see through the bullshit unimportant noise we are constantly bombarded with. In CS terms, only true data has value and is therefore knowledge. Other data is just noise and is of no value.
- Koshkin 10y ago
  That seems to be a very narrow view of what is valuable. Works of fiction have value. Even fairy tales do. (You may argue that even those contain elements of "true data", but still...)
  - rubberstamp 10y ago
    We both may be trying to make the exact same point. Sorry if the CS analogue caused more confusion. Not all knowledge is considered to have true monetary value. Many kind of business practices is not necessarily knowledge or truth. Some practices are even out right manipulation and ethically illegal. To me valuable is human culture, its history, how we could advance science and tech without its misuse to grab more power etc. As I read more and more, thought about various things that I read, observe things happening around me, read history and think the need of violence and such stuff, it got me various perspectives. I would hate anything but the truth. One's opinion about something is not necessarily truth and we get mostly uncomfortable about someone else's opinion. But dont we not want the true fact even if it is uncomfortable?
    - Koshkin 10y ago
      Point is, learning truth does not make people happy, in most cases. On the contrary. Truth, as far is our lives is concerned, is almost invariably ugly. This is why children are normally much happier than adults - they just know less.
      - rubberstamp 10y ago
        learning truth doesn't make people initially happy as truth doesn't match what they were expecting. over time learning truth as early as possible would align people's expectations more in sync with reality. So in the future their expectations about something will not be wildly off the mark as they will expect more realistically and hence result in less disappointments. So I would say learning truth will help people be more happy
ionised 10y ago
> which is why, for instance, atheism is not very popular I'm struggling to understand what you mean by this.
- Koshkin 10y ago
  Thing is, weird as it may seem, in most modern societies, even those that count as enlightened ones, proclaiming yourself as an atheist won't get you far, as the social and political life is concerned. For example, no candidate for US presidency, in their right mind, would openly admit being an atheist. And that is despite the official separation of church from state.
  - ionised 10y ago
    Ah, I understand.