Deceitful liars? As opposed to the honest ones?

I pretty much said everything in this article exactly just last night to my wife, Morgan Fairchild.

/i know one thing
//that is that I know nothing

They've done a nice job deceiving people into thinking evolutionary psychology is a science.

From TFA:
Working on parent-offspring conflict, I suddenly had this flash of insight: "Ah! If self-deception improves your ability to deceive others, then you would have a strong selective force to get it into your consciousness."
So we are evolutionarily predisposed to lie to others and ourselves.

That's not how science works.

Maybe they were spanked too much (new window).

Having not yet evolved fireproof legs, I feel like I may be at an evolutionary disadvantage to the rest of you.

Ricky Gervais agrees...

Fox news?

About a third of us don't show placebo effect, a third of us show a really strong one, and a third of us are kind of intermediate.

So liberals, teabaggers, and the mushy middle respectively.

Everything I type is a lie.

Theaetetus: They've done a nice job deceiving people into thinking evolutionary psychology is a science.

From TFA:
Working on parent-offspring conflict, I suddenly had this flash of insight: "Ah! If self-deception improves your ability to deceive others, then you would have a strong selective force to get it into your consciousness."
So we are evolutionarily predisposed to lie to others and ourselves.

That's not how science works.

This. This. So much this.

I can't believe we call this crap science when it is basically no different than some Nazi in the 30's saying "Jews have big noses, so they must have evolved them to smell out gold."

Science is not:

1: make observation
2: pull theory to explain observation out of your ass
3: say "that's evolution!" and call it a night.

Every aspect of our being is an evolutionary advantage.

HighZoolander: Kuroshin: I think you mean we were Intelligently Designed to be liars, Subby.

Exactly, God made us in his image.

/unless that was just another lie he told us.

Too soon

WTF was that interview? I started reading about a hypothesis about the evolutionary advantage of deceit and suddenly I'm reading about gay orgies.

the_chief: Every aspect of our being is an evolutionary advantage.

They're evolutionarily stable, but not necessarily an advantage.

elchip: [i.imgur.com image 640x293]

Since the world is only 6000 years old, there wasn't enough time for any evolution at all.

AverageAmericanGuy: Having not yet evolved fireproof legs, I feel like I may be at an evolutionary disadvantage to the rest of you.

Isn't evolution just a theory?

Ha! Thanks, but speaking of gayness, you make some fascinating connections between being in the closet and the strength of your immune system in the book.

How is it that Republican politicians aren't sick 24/7?

boomm: Isn't evolution just a theory?

John Dewey: boomm: AverageAmericanGuy: Having not yet evolved fireproof legs, I feel like I may be at an evolutionary disadvantage to the rest of you.

Isn't evolution just a theory?

The same way gravity is.

So, fairly consistent if we practice self-deceit by limiting it to 'laws' bound by the limits of our observation. But near the boundaries, we all know it all gets a little weird.

People lie because we've gotten to the point that we're too lazy to check their story out, plus the truth is boring.

Which sounds better:

1- You spent time in Navy cleaning barnacles off the ship's hull
2- You're a Navy SEAL that conducted classified missions in the southern hemisphere that required "extreme prejudice" and you were involved in an orgy during the Rio Carnival where you without knowing it engaged in a Devil's three-way with the target you were supposed to kill in the first place.

I arrest my case.

boomm: AverageAmericanGuy: Having not yet evolved fireproof legs, I feel like I may be at an evolutionary disadvantage to the rest of you.

Isn't evolution just a theory?

Merriam Webster "theory" (new window)

Lots of ways to define theory. Scientists use definitions 1, 3, 5, and 6c; herpderp creationists think they're using definitions 2, 4b, and 6b.

LegacyDL: People lie because we've gotten to the point that we're too lazy to check their story out, plus the truth is boring.

Which sounds better:

1- You spent time in Navy cleaning barnacles off the ship's hull
2- You're a Navy SEAL that conducted classified missions in the southern hemisphere that required "extreme prejudice" and you were involved in an orgy during the Rio Carnival where you without knowing it engaged in a Devil's three-way with the target you were supposed to kill in the first place.

I arrest my case.

Who's going to post bail?
/and will the charges stick?

I'm pretty good at lying. This one time, I turned my dentist's office into a house of lies. Then I bent my wookie. I've had better days.

Theaetetus: That's not how science works.

Often, those who disparage evolutionary psychology out of hand haven't even bothered to Wikipedia it . . .

What a hack article/ doctor.

And I'll keep lying ... I promise.

Theaetetus: They've done a nice job deceiving people into thinking evolutionary psychology is a science.

From TFA:
Working on parent-offspring conflict, I suddenly had this flash of insight: "Ah! If self-deception improves your ability to deceive others, then you would have a strong selective force to get it into your consciousness."
So we are evolutionarily predisposed to lie to others and ourselves.

That's not how science works.

Well, they've gotten to the "hypothesis" part. Albeit it's only technically falsifiable since an actual experiment falsifying it would be pretty cost-prohibitive in terms of time (for a direct study) or manpower (for an analysis of historical data -- plus you'd basically need a time machine since we've been lying since before we had writing).

But yeah, it's more "expert opinion" than "science", I guess. Doesn't necessarily mean it's useless, it's basically science fiction and we've gotten plenty of mileage out of that as a society.

You have my word on it...

Everything I say is a lie, but I'm really lying about that.

"Suspicious of the man's sudden appearance, and convinced he was intent on either extorting money from him or robbing him, Trivers, a Rutgers professor, confronted him about his identity. His first name, the man said, was Steve. "What's your last name?" Trivers asked. Trivers, one of the world's leading evolutionary theorists and an expert on deceit, was checking for a behavioral sign that the man was lying, like an absence of hand gestures or longer pauses between words, which indicate "higher cognitive load." The man paused. And Trivers knew immediately he was right: As it turns out, the man's real name was Omar."

Hmmm the turban might have been a dead give away...

//Lol just kidding, sure they can be named Steve, too, I think.

Deep Contact: Everything I say is a lie, but I'm really lying about that.

I too can play evolutionary psyche.

The whole purpose of language is to get other people to do or not do things to your advantage. What is most important is how believable what you say is not where is lies in a range such as true, possible, ... false.

Also, much of what people regard as reasoning is merely just rationalization. Evo Psych is full of poorly reasoned rationalizations in the form of "just-so stories".

All Cretans are liars.

I invented lying, you know.

When I first met a good friend of mine and was hanging at his house for a school project, apropos of nothing I told him and his girlfriend that they made a cute couple. I don't know why I said it, it wasn't especially true, and it kind of bothered me that that sort of useless crap would come out of my mouth (I was an older returning student and fairly serious minded). In any case I owe that comment to the fact that he is one of my most loyal and trusted buddies (yes, they eventually married).
Go figure.