I think the rise of lies has little to do with humans being hardwired to resolve questions using emotions over reason. We prefer lies because we want a complex world to be simple, predictable, and manageable. Obviously it's not, so the only way that powerless people can believe their lives aren't spinning out of control is for authority figures to tell them what they want to hear: 1) every problem is simple and 2) a simplistic solution will fix any problem and return their world to the perfect Eden they believe it can and should be.
Happy fantasies are sustained only by lies. That's why we prefer lies.
Are these mutually exclusive ideas? I feel there's overlap between them. Acting based on emotional pull can also reduce cognitive overhead compared to the expensive process of making decisions predicated on logic.
On the other hand, lies don't necessary simplify worldviews either. We shouldn't forget that a significant part of the population is willing to engage in conspiracy theories that all too often draw lines between loosely correlated events.
I think belief in conspiracies serves the same end as wishful thinking -- we can blame others for creating the evils of the world. Us-vs-them thinking also serve our need for being surrounded by 'friends', something you can do only if you have enemies. So inventing conspiracies and enemies are great ways to give yourself comfort amid a messy largely random world you can't control. If only we could get rid of our enemies, our world would be a much better place.
By reasoning of this article, we all ‘think’ we know what the answer is and it usually comes in the form of a one paragraph response that grossly simplifies how complex human beings and the world is. You use ‘I think’ to start your paragraph but, what’s more likely - according to what this article is saying - is that ‘you feel’ that what you say is correct and it is to a significant degree influenced by your emotions. Now you may come back and say, you don’t know me and I am a rational persona and use sound reasoning and carful research to come to my conclusion. However, the economist article states precisely that all people action on emotion rationalize this by pointing to how they use reason and sound judgement.
I am not trying to attack anyone here, I am guilty of this as much as anyone. But when you really evaluate your beliefs, including the one states above, can you confidently state that it is pure reason unaltered by emotion?
And I think this is the core, we must recognize that all of us are hard wired to behave like this. And maybe the best that we can do is try to recognize it often enough and then consciously counteract it.
I don’t have the answer here and it is beyond my expertise but I think anything complicated such as ‘why and how are humans hardwired to act on emotion instead of reason’ and ‘how is this knowledge being abused’, has more than one underlying cause that you alluded to.
You may be right and we may prefer lies exactly for the reasons you stated, but what evidence is there for that and how did you come to that conclusion? Or is it based on your ‘gut feeling’ or ‘intuition’ based on your world outlook.
Everything we learn has some inherent flaws due to the fact that it passes through the brain’s limited capacity to deal with biases and separate reason from emotion.
So, while I think my response is terribly insightful and impressive. In my limited capacity, I know that I will no doubt be humbled by responses of others which will point out my own errors in my reasoning.
I’m not sure there is any way to show that, you’d need historical data to compare to.
I think a lot of people expected that scientific advances and evidence would prove to be so convincing and powerful that superstition, irrational clinging to false beliefs and the use of misinformation would fall away and lose their power. That doesn’t seem to be happening, and so this feels like a regression even if it’s just the same old trash piling up for the same old reasons.
Lying at scale without consequences seems to be becoming more prevalent. The inventor of that is generally considered to be Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister. He used radio and film technology, which were new at the time, plus large rallies, to present a consistent but bogus view of reality.
After WWII, that sort of thing had such a bad reputation that it was not used much until after the WWII generation died off.
Lying at scale? Humans have had organized religion for millennia. You don't need radio, you just have to have an organization of priests to keep the fires burning in the temple and tell people about Jupiter when they visit. Even if you only count directly political lies, we have records of ancient historians expressing their doubts about various stories. I mean, come on, is the claim that the high water mark of truth and public knowledge was the Middle Ages?
Hate to be political, but as one Trump supporter said, when asked on Trump and his lies:
"I think what most liberals are missing is that this isn't about right and wrong, it's about winning and losing. I've attached my entire worldview to this man and I am going down with the ship. Not one of you is going to convince me otherwise."
Some people are simply willing to accept lies, if it resonates with their beliefs. A means to an end.
You can see that all the time in securities markets - completely ridiculous valuations and then bagholding all the way to the bottom. It's human nature. It's like people would rather be right than make money.
Also, I have no idea why people think this is new. If this is the age of dishonesty - when exactly was the age of honesty? I prefer Soros' approach of accepting human fallibility as an important part of the world, a part that's not going away just because I think it's "ugly".
That may be one guys opinion, but you understand the other side is lying, correct? What I didn't fully appreciate until Trump was how much of politics is theater.
Right, some (the DNC) will pay a foreign entity to craft a totally made up conspiracy theory about Russia collusion and then leverage the FBI, the CIA and all major news outlets to propagandize that bullshit while keeping a straight face.
At the same time they'll spike a story for three years on a prolific pedophile (Epstein) that implicates Bill Clinton, to protect their own.
All parties lie, but the DNC and their allies in the media...well they really take the cake.
That was clearly not an actual supporter. I mean, that is pretty obvious. A more realistic defense: Trump lays on the BS but it doesn't matter if you support X or Y policies and he's the only horse to bet on.
I don't believe that to be an actual quote, but having said that, we live in a post-truth world. We have recognised, at last, that the ends justify the means.
Happy fantasies are sustained only by lies. That's why we prefer lies.