Truth

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Truth Lies in a NoosphereLiars
ParadoxAdam Smith Seminar Ludwig-Maximilians
Universitat, Munchen, January 19 2015

• Patrick A. McNutt, FRSA
• Dublin and Manchester
• Follow on Twitter _at_tuncnunc
• Web www.patrickmcnutt.com

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Why this topic?

• What is truth? What is a lie?
• What is the meaning of truth?
• Scientific truth v poets truth
• Statement Time flies like an arrow
• Syntax and language generate liars paradox
• Truth as perceived by others
• Statement a if lying is the norm truth is an
  aversion to lying

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Liars paradox Syntax language

• The classic statement
• This sentence is false
• If this sentence is false is true then the
  sentence is false.
• But if this sentence is false is false, then
  the sentence is true.

4
De Chardins Noosphere

• Focus on the sphere of mind according to Huxley
• A conscious awareness of lying through the
  interaction of the human mind with other minds
• Sensation and perception ..the extended mind
• Kant these aspects of the mind turn
  things-in-themselves into the world of
  experience.
• McGilchrist Left prefrontal cortex and wrong to
  believe that telling a lie can make us unhappy.
• Lying awareness and experience within a lying
  life cycle

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Liars paradox Meaning awareness

• Masha Isnt there some meaning?
• Toozenbach Meaning? Look out there, its
  snowing. Whats the meaning of that?
• Mary Lincoln Does this dress make my backside
  look big?
• Abe Lincoln Perhaps a bit.

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Meaning awareness

• We cannot judge the truth. We can only interpret
  the sense data through the intellect and grasp
  the truthDemocritus 460-370BC
• At a moment in time we recognize well signed
  turning points in conversation and we have to
  shift to a different kind of languageMary
  Midgley 21st century

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Adapting de Chardins noosphere

• The duration of a lie is independent of the truth
  a form of deception
• Lying is at a moment in time. Descartes mediation
  bring it about I you.
• Observation Jean Valjean and the loaf of
  bread. St Francis of Assisi and the murderer.
• There is a layer of consciousness surrounded by
  years of thought experience. Individuals know
  that they have to shift to a different kind of
  language.

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Two hypotheses

• Truthful honest individual tells a lie
• Willy Loman hypothesis an economic incentive to
  lie 110 chance (tell the truth) of earning 5
  commission or 5050 chance (tell a lie)..
• Girards Mimetic hypothesis unconscious tendency
  to adopt the aspirations of others - lying has
  value because it is desired by another.

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Lying life cycle

• Lukes power and influencing belief systems
  Vladimir and Estragon Waiting for Godot
• Pandering Mr T in conversation with the
  distraught mother of a lost child Your daughter
  is in Vermont. True or False?
• Example of Leo the liar L/T and a Kohlberg
  question what is in it for me?
• Rosenbaum There is no central supervising self
  inside Mr T but a conscious awareness T/L

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Prefrontal cortex

• Prefrontal cortex regulates emotions and
  behaviour studies on sleep-deprivation SD and
  a link to persons emotions and behaviour.
• 2014 Study Journal of Applied Psychology
  Students were more inclined to lie when sleep
  deprived
• Dan Arielys 2008 study that showed incidence of
  cheating many who cheated a little rather than
  a few who cheated a lot.

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white lies evolve into lying as a norm Copes
law of lying?

• We are pluralities T evolves to T/L and L
  evolves to L/T What is in it for me? My payoff?
• Many T/L Few L types Dan Arielys experiment
  with cheating amongst students as many students
  cheating a little
• Lying because everyone is lying Cascade effect
  of a lying life cycle - analogous to restaurant
  queues.

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Waiting for truth Lies concealed in truth
Figure 1

• Cohens Non-equivalence
• Statement L is T. Statement L is like T
• L as T creates a metaphorical risk that L is
  T
• Is there an equivalence?
• Yes, Figure 1 a topology
• L proper subset T ? L as T
• L is T gt L T if and only if T L
• L is T is understood to be L is like T

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Turing Experiment and Benthams Panopticon

• Turing Test if a machine convinces observers it
  might be rational, then it is fair to describe
  the machine as rational.
• Statement 1 the respondent behind the closed
  door is a liar
• Statement 2 the respondent in Statement 1 is a
  liar.
• Statement 2 is True if and only if Statement 1 is
  Not False

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Table 2 Person l Machine t/l
Mr L T/L Identity
Are you a liar? Yes No
Can I trust you? Yes No Mr L
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Liars paradox No Awareness

• Statement 3 L is a liar
• A sentence is False if its negation is True
• If Sentence 3 is not false, then it is false. It
  is false. But since this is what Sentence 3 says
  it is, it is true. So it both true and false.
• Alternative No Liars Paradox with Awareness
• Fable of West Lake
• .

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Fable of West Lakeno Liars Paradox

• Benthams Panopticon or Hofstadter-Schellings
  I-think-You-think-I-think strange loop
• Statement 4 Chinese man The fish are unhappy
  
• Friends Reply How do you know that the fish
  are unhappy?
• Chinese man But you are not me. How do you know
  that I know

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Lying in a moment in time v mixed speech St
Jerome Psalms 11611

• Manfreds statement S Everyman is a liar.
• Is Manfred telling the truth or is he lying?
• If it is true that every man is a liar, and
  Manfreds statement S is true, then Manfred also
  is lying he is a man. But if he is lying his
  statement S is not true
• Since Manfred himself is a man, it follows that
  he also is lying but if he is lying because
  every man is a liar, then his lying is of a
  different sort.

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Final Causebecause

• Thinking about lying and lying are the same thing
• Lying is a final Aristotelean cause how a thing
  came about ..responsible.
• Lying is a final cause that for the sake if
  which a thing is what it is for a cup it holds
  water, for a seed it might be a plant,
• For Mr T/L it is telling the truth as perceived
  by others.
• Aristotles Physics II.8 If, therefore, purpose
  is present in art, it is present also in nature.

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Table 4 Mr Ts Payoff his purpose, his aim,
his goal gt Telos of lying as mr t/l
Mr T Mr T/L Row min
Mr L 3 1 1
Mr L/T 2 0 0
Column max Minimax 3 1 1 Maximin
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Thank you for listeningPlautus The Captives
284Hes not just telling lies now hes
philosophising.

• Mark Twain
• If you tell the truth you dont have to remember
  anything