Why do we lie?

[Woodsey]

Because when asked "What are you thinking about?" you can reply "How deeply love affects us all" instead of the truth: "What if I was James Bond?" or the even more likely answer of "Fuck all".

 

[Leon Rhapsodes]

Lies are needed for humanity to continue on surviving, deep down we are all seeking to do what is best for ourselves.

That's not true, loads of people to charity work with absolutely no personal gain.

After you do something for charity like give a poor child a T-shirt he will now love and cherish what is said charity workers initial feelings, feelings of joy which benefits them. Charity workers do it because their work makes them happy, although some do it out of guilt but hey I like to be optomistic and say it's due to them wanting to get that feeling of joy.

So yeah tis selfish of them in a messed up way but so is life. Not saying their bad just it's human nature we love happiness and you gotta do what you can do get it.

If you're going to use such a broad definition of "self-interest" then your second point doesn't follow.

Lies are needed for humanity to continue on surviving, deep down we are all seeking to do what is best for ourselves. Naturally if you state that and tell the truth that your only in it for your own gain then no one is going to help you succeed, no banks will support, no voters will vote for you, we need to put on a persona/mask so to speak so that we can work together build nations and enhance life and shit.

No-one's going to blame a charity-worker for doing charity because they enjoy it.

Well I suppose, but if they were being totally honest they would say, I am doing charity work because it boosts my own self esteem and makes me happy and honestly it has nothing to do with me caring for the charity or who I help.

See as sad as it is we don't care who we are helping as long as we are helping ourselves whilst doing it. It's kinda complicated but lies can get you everything and it has, look around you all of this obtained through everyone lieing, whether face to face, or on their CV's. I can't really carry this on, nothing else to say you either accept it as an answer or believe what you want to, I'm not gonna kill ya for having your own beliefs and in fact I respect that, this is just my logical view on lieing in my heart i think it's wrong but in my head it seems neccesary.

 

[GodofDisaster]

To protect the ones we love.

To get out of bad situations.

Also: "A lie can become truth with the right number of people beliving in it." (A qoute I heard, but I can't remember were or who from.

 

[Deleric]

What everyone else said.

The answer to this topic is very obvious.

 

[LilGherkin]

We want to protect ourselves, just this morning while pulling out of my garage my side mirror scratched up my brothers car and he's going to a Halloween party tonight. I've used some car paint for scratches on my side view mirror and it looks like nothing has happened to it, but it did tear up his car a little and when he comes back tomorrow I'm going to point it out to him as though it looks like someone clipped his car at the party. It'll probably haunt me that I didn't tell him for a while until I forget about it. I'm going to lie for my own safety because he has a short & violent temper and owns several hunting kinfes and could easily beat me up.

 

[Amnestic]

Because when asked "What are you thinking about?" you can reply "How deeply love affects us all" instead of the truth: "What if I was James Bond?" or the even more likely answer of "Fuck all".

Uh, casual reference to...Ed Byrne I think?

 

[Maze1125]

Well I suppose, but if they were being totally honest they would say, I am doing charity work because it boosts my own self esteem and makes me happy and honestly it has nothing to do with me caring for the charity or who I help.

That's not true either.
Charity work makes people happy and boosts their self-esteem because they care.
If they didn't care, it wouldn't make them happy because they wouldn't be getting paid and wouldn't care about the outcome they were working towards, and if anything it could reduce their self-esteem as they could feel stupid for doing something they didn't care about.

Yes, by the broadest definition, everything someone does is due to their own self interest, but that doesn't mean that everyone is an uncaring self-serving bastard.

 

[Biosophilogical]

Because Lying is just that much easier. Normally telling the truth takes longer and more effort than lying. Also, when someone believes your lie it can be very satisfying, the more obscure the lie the better. POersonally, when I lie, and they believe it, I te3nd to let them in on the truth cause I am just that nice a person. I will not tell them the truth, however, if the truth will cause problems for me.

 

[Liberuno]

I tried to limit myself to lying once per day for a while. I found that I had to pick them wisely and I wasn't able to stick to one per day for very long.

A few white lies here and there can keep you out of the dog house.

 

[Malkavian]

I lie a lot. I do it because it saves me a lot of trouble some times, and, to tell the truth, because I enjoy lying. It doesn't mean I don't tell the truth when it is appropriate, though.

 

[Leon Rhapsodes]

Well I suppose, but if they were being totally honest they would say, I am doing charity work because it boosts my own self esteem and makes me happy and honestly it has nothing to do with me caring for the charity or who I help.

That's not true either.
Charity work makes people happy and boosts their self-esteem because they care.
If they didn't care, it wouldn't make them happy because they wouldn't be getting paid and wouldn't care about the outcome they were working towards, and if anything it could reduce their self-esteem as they could feel stupid for doing something they didn't care about.

Yes, by the broadest definition, everything someone does is due to their own self interest, but that doesn't mean that everyone is an uncaring self-serving bastard.

Nah not saying everyone's a basket, but you know people just selfish in nature it's as you said very broad but still applies, then again like I said earlier you can reject my view, I'm not stating this as fact I'm merely thinking bout it logically, but feh anywho I'm done.

 

[ottenni]

Because getting caught out when you have done the wrong thing sucks. And we are to lazy to fix things.

 

[riskroWe]

I lie because people are stupid enough to believe me. And I do it in such a way that if the truth came out I could alter my version of history.

Simply, I do it because I can. It's a fuckin' free meal.

And very important when going for job interviews.

 

[Spaghetti]

I bring you a scouse guy trying to teach a robot to lie as someway to reaching an answer:

On a serious note: the post below just about sums it up

To protect the ones we love.
To get out of bad situations.
Also: "I lie can become truth with the right number of people beliving in it." (A qoute I heard, but I can't remember were or who from.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

I bring you a scouse guy trying to teach a robot to lie as someway to reaching an answer:

On a serious note: the post below just about sums it up

To protect the ones we love.
To get out of bad situations.
Also: "I lie can become truth with the right number of people beliving in it." (A qoute I heard, but I can't remember were or who from.

I am a scouser, and scousers never lie.

I've got a waffle-maker that works underwater.

 

[GodofDisaster]

I bring you a scouse guy trying to teach a robot to lie as someway to reaching an answer:

"Hah that made my day, thanks for that man."

 

[DarkRyter]

To win, in a utilitarian sense.

Most lying happens when we find that lying in a certain certain situation would result in more gain (or less loss) for us than if we had told the truth.

That's how most people live their entire lives, until some shit interferes with our logic, like emotions or physical self.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Because it's easier. Because you don't want to hurt people. Because you're a jerk.

Pick one.

Those are exactly the reasons to be truthful...works for me.

Do you agree there are some situations when lying is better?

I'm sure there are...they just don't come up in my life. I find it is hard work to maintain a lie, so I choose truth.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

We know the consequences, and want to avoid them in the easiest way possible.

 

[Gmano]

You shouldn't have to lie, it is easier to have other people invent their own lie when you tell them part of the truth.

"Why didn't you come to the party."
One could say: "I didn't feel up to it." It conveys "I was ill" but it also means "i simply didn't feel like it"

or "Did you steal/hide my _____"
Straight answer: yes, i took it and ditched it in a bush.

half truth: "I do not know what happened to your ____" (because you are unsure about what happened when you put it in a bush"

half truth 2: "I didn't see anyone take it from where I saw it last" followed by "I saw over there" (note that you didn't LAST see it over there)