If Lying Is Bad, Why Do We Still Fall for It?
What’s the difference between a lie and fiction, anyway?
We’ve been there before. We lied to people to protect ourselves from embarrassment. I’m guilty of telling white lies at times; often to please people or to cover up some of my flaws.
In today’s age of technology, we’re regularly exposed to a myriad of news and information online. Yet, it’s human nature that we’re more likely in favour of overnight speculations, conspiracy theories, white lies, and fake news (no, drinking bleach doesn’t cure COVID-19).
The big question is: why are we willing to believe in falsehoods knowing that honesty is the very core value our culture has taught us? It’s as if lies addicted our brains to it, and we’ve lost control of what or who to trust.
In Bill Gates’s latest podcast series — Ask Big Questions — with Rashida Jones, alongside a guest appearance by Yuval Noah Harari, a historian and author of the book, Sapiens, they’ve unpacked explanations relating to this topic.
The Difference Between A Lie and Fiction
Harari explained that a lie is something that isn’t true, and you say it to deceive others. Fiction is something you genuinely believe in, and you tell other people not in order to deceive them.
I know, the distinction is thought-provoking, right? For 22 years, I’ve always thought they meant the same thing until Harari educated me on this.
Religions, corporations, and political systems are myths
We believe in Christianity, deem ourselves as loyal fans of Apple, or take pride in being a Democrat or a Republican because we believe in their values and what they stand for. This makes us “superhumans” since we’re able to corporate on a larger scale than any other mammals given that we’re good at inventing and believing stories.
Money is also something we create using our imagination. It came into fruition because our ancestors believed this was the best way to establish a common medium of exchange.
A story can be untrue, but with enormous power, an influential social status or a vast amount of money, you can make many people believe in the fiction you’re telling.
The same way a story spreads is why we’re more likely to fall for lies too. Since person A said this, person B is convinced and starts spreading the foretold lie, creating a ripple effect of lying and believing. When many people believe in a lie or fiction, we hold it as the “truth”.
As Harari put it, the best way to convince people to believe in your lie is to believe the lie yourself. Which makes sense because if you don’t, why would people build their convictions around something that’s constructed from thin air? People would much rather trim a lawn than feel like a fool.
Prints and Witch-Hunting
When asked whether lies are more dangerous now than they were in the past, Harari explained from a historical perspective.
If someone talked about witch-hunting, I’d think it’s something medieval. Historically, witch-hunting is most prominent during the 16th and 17th century, the same time scientific revolution occurred.
People were printing conspiracies about it, and the news about witch-hunting was spreading faster than ever. Since it’s published as a book, people believed it. It exactly the same belief we held about printed materials: we take our local newspaper as a source of truth.
With media platforms now, we’re more prone to unchecked news that pops up on our Facebook timeline.
Our Brains Are Lazy
Harari mentioned that as humans, we like to seek overly simple explanations. For example, we find it easier to accept that a robber is a bad person because he stole someone else’s possessions.
Quoting from Harari in the podcast he said, “The lies do have a certain pattern to them that make them kind of satisfying, despite their lack of truth.”
Taking the current pandemic situation as an example, we care little to understand what sort of virus it is, the scientific transmission of it, or the biological code of the virus which makes it deadly. Unless we’re scientists, viruses are difficult to understand.
Evolution has adapted us to understand other complicated things, like social relations. In this matter, Harari said that we’re geniuses.
In a small hunter-gatherer band, there are a few simple things a person needs to know above everything else to survive such as who hates whom, who’s the leader, and who do I feel is conspiring against me in the tribe.
Conspiracy Theories and Our World
Finding conspiracy in the tribe makes us feel smart, and thus, it’s no surprise that it’s happening even in today’s world.
Conspiracy theories, as noted by Harari, represent a justified sense of fear that humans have. He also gave an example that people created the idea of COVID-19 was to implant people with computer chips to control them — it’s ridiculous but believable, no?
Such a theory represents a realistic fear of surveillance technology. Even if the people who created the COVID-19 conspiracy didn’t intend any consequences, Harari reminded that the massive rise in the acceptance and implementation of surveillance technology is our reality. Just think about the number of times Facebook has been called to courts to justify their privacy data policy.
Thanks to our ancestors and great minds in history who sparked revolutionary ideas, we’ve progressed really far.
There’s one paramount concern, though. We might endanger ourselves if we continue living in a world that takes on the notion that: “If I believe that the forest is pink, and I have the means to sponsor scientists to back me up on this data, together with news coverage, you must believe me because it’s the “truth”.”
It’s important now more than ever that we turn to credible sources backed by experts and educate people around it. Believing the truth should be the new norm.
