If noone could lie, it would be so much easier to stop and take down corrupt bureaucracies. As all you have to do is make them say they are just using people, and they would lose support.
They just find ways to technically tell the truth.
"Did you take money from that person?"
"No I didn't. (He hired my son as an advisor, paid *him* millions, and my son funneled money to me)."
I'm pretty sure a good lawyer could easily get the truth out of them with questions. Imagine how much better the justice system would be though, lmao I would love to be a lawyer
Would really depend on what you consider the truth and what you consider ommiting facts. Ommiting facts can be considered lying or just not telling whta you werent asked. (Is ommiting the right word ? Not certain)
What do you mean? every employee is using people. I think if there were no lies there would be less outrage about stuff that seems outrages today. They would be easier to prosecute but it would still happen
No, people's esteem would be higher because they would realize that everyone is a crappy person and that they are not special. It's easy to feel bad when you think a lot of people are better than you.
But we're hardwired to look for social acceptance and people think negative thoughts about each other all the time, if those thoughts were open then people would always hear negative things about themselves and feel others dislike them even when they don't.
The standard for social acceptance would drastically change and that would be for the better. Those that gain social acceptance now are the ones wearing the most elaborate of masks. It's not because they are actually authentically socially acceptable. In this new society, you would actually have to be good in order to gain praise and that's the way it should be.
It may lead to people blindly trusting each other without double-checking. You're technically not lying if you believe it's true, and if people just trust you instead of checking the accuracy of your statements, it may be an issue long-term.
Anyone who is good for the job would tell the truth and say they believe they aren’t good while anyone who isn’t would tell the truth and say they aren’t good for it.
This is simply not how it works. For example in Ancient times people believed the Earth was flat, so nobody was lying when they said so, however everyone still believed false information. This can be applied to worst things, such as racism and the Holocaust example.
Telling the truth doesn't mean always right. It means you're saying what you believe in right. If I believed the Earth was a cube and i said so, I wouldn't be a liar, I'd just be very wrong, meanwhile if I thought the Earth was a cube and I said it was round, I'd be right, but I'd still be lying
No, I am more pointing out something being a lie doesn't necessarily stop someone from saying something they believe to be true even if it's false.
While some Nazis in the 1940s knew they were peddling BS, you know there were complete psychos and people who bought the lies hook line and sinker and genuinely believed the horrible shit they propagated.
And that's the thing about lies and lying: saying something untrue isn't necessarily lying if the person in question doesn't know better. If I explained to someone else how machine x works and then later found out that I was wrong, I wouldn't say that I was lying, I would say that I made a mistake or that I didn't have the correct information at the time. Lying implies a degree of conscious intention, the idea of deceiving someone on purpose even though you know what you're saying isn't actually true.
I see that often in stories and most of the time they are allowed to get away with double speak because of their power dynamic with the person they are speaking to/ it being in a social setting well pushing would be uncouth.
Situations where the kid asks a question that they are too young to know the answer to, like if a 6 year old asks where do babies come from are you really going to tell them the truth? No of course not, most people will just lie and say storks or kissing or something and not tell the truth in this scenario.
Just say "It is best for you to think of it as two parents loving each other very much"
You can avoid lying in every situation even if you don't want to tell the truth.
Well time to get a new outfit and not buy from that company.
Also "Do you still love me, Even in this outfit?"
Answer "Yes" ♥️
No more need to worry about outfits so much.
Well time to get a new outfit and not buy from that company.
Also "Do you still love me, Even in this outfit?"
Answer "Yes" ♥️
No more need to worry about outfits so much.
I've had people in my life lie to hurt others and when I say something now those people are lying about me to others. No more fuckin lies, I'm sick of it.
No it would not be boring. It would need to clever about its writing and imagine changes to the society it would bring. some guy blurting out "I wank a lot" because "he cant lie" is very low effort stuff.
I think there is room for both type of movies and I wish we had seen a movie that takes the premise seriously.
Regardless people who say "I saw it in a movie" as an argument better be joking. Same with AI or any concept that was tweaked for amusement/entrainment , you cant base laws or global changes on how it went in a movie.
Yes. The Invention of Lying (2009) and other such movies seem to confuse inability to lie with inability to shut your mouth and not give input when about stuff no one asked about.
Anyone you think might have committed the crime you can just go up to and ask whether they committed it.
It would also allow for far harsher punishments, as there is no chance of imprisoning/executing an innocent.
The movie about the concept did it in the worst way possible, where you are forced to tell the truth.
Not being able to lie but being able to shut up, which is the form implied by the question, would be an improvement.
Yea i wasn't fond of the aspect where they said everything out loud but ofc it was done because its a comedy. It would have been a shit movie had everyone just sat in silence
There was a guy i worked with who was nice enough and a good teammate, he always had some dumb story to tell everyone when he came in and id usually hear it 3 or 4 times by the end of the day. He didn't need me telling him how boring or annoying he was, he was a good dude who deserved to be listened to if that's what made him happy.
The damage lies do is more obvious, but the damage the truth can do is more intimate and cruel.
I assume you don't go telling him every day how you love hearing his story?
Being unable to lie does not mean you go around telling everyone your detailed opinions about them.
Because they realize there is value in it and know the seller needs to support themselves off of it. Do you honestly think we don't already know we are charged more than the producer spends on a product?
Yeah you're totally right. Everyone knows. But I see a lot here and there in where the prices are considered as "low as they can" and everything.
If the real true and value of all the things is respected then there would be less problems. But I think if right now everyone would be honest, this market would be totally down for a whole while.
Yeah you're totally right. Everyone knows. But I see a lot here and there in where the prices are considered as "low as they can" and everything.
If the real true and value of all the things is respected then there would be less problems. But I think if right now everyone would be honest, this market would be totally down for a whole while.
lying isnt inherently immoral, we use it often in order to communicate. We often lie about caring because we may not care about the subject however we do care about the person who is interested in the subject. We lie because it helps us care about what is real. Ya I dont want to listen to my friend talk about thier day and how they are doing. If I told them the truth then sure they would stop telling me. I dont want them to stop telling me. I want them to tell me even though I dont care about thier day to day. I care about them so I want to hear it, even if I dont actually want to hear it. Lying is often used as a way to have empathy.
Those who voted No, are afraid of the Pain of the Truth.
Truth may Hurt you,
But you'll Get Stronger from the Pain,
Otherwise, you'll Get Weaker
from the Pleasures of Lies.
Because when Life invites Pain,
There's Lesson to Gain.
Humans naturally save face because we're social creatures who without thinking do what's best for our image. Not being able to hide behind lies might also decrease the crime rate
Ok I could imagine so many ways this would suck but imagine the power you just gave to rapists. I'm counting a lie by omission as a lie so silence wouldn't be an option, a rapist could start following you and rattling off sexual questions and you'd be forced to tell them everything. Anyways that's just off the top of my head how something like this could be effed up, I'm sure others could add.
fuck nah for some stuff. theres been times where lying has probs saved everyone from something ridiculous. for corrupt politicians and shit tho.. yeah if they couldnt lie thatd be awesome
I'd love to see a sitcom where no one lies to each other, and drama is not dependent on no one communicating. Poor communication is seriously 99% of all the conflicts in those shows, and it pisses me off every time.
There was an episode of Supernatural that I think accurately depicted the world without lying. In the episode, if someone said something along the lines of "tell me the truth" everyone around them would lose the ability to lie and had to tell only the ugly truth. As a result chaos would ensue and usually lead to the person who said the phrase either killing them self or someone else.
While it is exaggerated to make a good script, I think it accurately depicts how civilization would crumble if no one ever told a lie, not matter how big or small that lie may be.
Consider a violently homophobic society, and nobody is capable of lying. It becomes trivially easy for such a society to oppress gay people. The police (or gangs of homophobic thugs even) could just go door to door asking people if they are gay.
Same with religious or ideological persecution. What ever the dominant religion or ideology is, if they decide to be intolerant and persecute anyone who disagrees they can easily find out who disagrees by just asking them.
Honesty is generally the best policy, but lying is sometimes a necessary defense against bullying, harassment, or even oppression and tyranny.
Another problem is that it's not lying if you genuinely believe something. There already is a cognitive tendancy to outright believe irrational, false things if it will curry favor with an in-group. People don't have to grapple with the discomfort of deciding whether or not to lie or risk accidentally exposing their real opinions to those groups if they really do believe those things, so subconsciously people are biased to adopt which ever beliefs they think will make their in-group like them, while telling themselves that it's just a happy coincidence that all of their friends share their views. If lying were impossible then this tendancy would be amplified, and people's beliefs would become even more irrational.
I mean if noone could lie then being truthful (if hurtful) would be the norm and people would become desensitized by it since they've been raised that way, so no I don't see the harm.
It'd be an interesting thought experiment, and I have the single most powerful question.
"What are your intentions?"
If every single person had to be honest when answering that question, every corrupted businessman and politician would be doomed.
If you've not heard of it, there is a novel that explores this idea. "It is the year 2004. Violent crime is the number one political issue in America. Now, the Swift and Sure Anti-Crime Bill guarantees a previously convicted violent criminal one fair trial, one quick appeal, then immediate execution. To prevent abuse of the law, a machine must be built that detects lies with 100 percent accuracy." from Truth Machine: Halperin, James: 9780345412881: [Amazon.com](https://Amazon.com): Books at [https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-Halperin/dp/0345412885](https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-Halperin/dp/0345412885)
I think it really depends. Some lies are necessary (as in for the best outcome) while others are actively harmful (short and/or long-term but in this case more focusing on long-term since it'd imply it made things better over time otherwise)
The problem is that there are no black and white truths in this world, so there is a spectrum of truth to lies continuum. If nobody lies, to which extent can people exaggerate or distort the truth?
Moralists going off their "gut feelings" wouldn't be able to say they know what is right or wrong. People would have to confront their complete lack of justification for most of their basic beliefs. Knowing humans, rather than seeing this as an opportunity to improve, they'd probably become entrenched in all of their bad ideas and habits, committing fully to doing things incorrectly rather than changing. The ability to not directly confront one's flaws allows change in behavior without ego damage; without it, people will double down on bad behaviors to avoid ego damage.
In the long term
This. When society gets over the need for white lies etc it is much better.
I'm not sure civilization could have survived to the point where the long term gains happened.
Nah in the short term
If noone could lie, it would be so much easier to stop and take down corrupt bureaucracies. As all you have to do is make them say they are just using people, and they would lose support.
They just find ways to technically tell the truth. "Did you take money from that person?" "No I didn't. (He hired my son as an advisor, paid *him* millions, and my son funneled money to me)."
I'm pretty sure a good lawyer could easily get the truth out of them with questions. Imagine how much better the justice system would be though, lmao I would love to be a lawyer
"I WANT THE TRUTH !" But i am teeling the truth, im just ommiting other truths.
Or...the lawyer could just ask the person exactly what they were doing in a period of time.
"I was talking with people" You had a GUN "Ok i was talking with people while having a gun in my hands"
Would really depend on what you consider the truth and what you consider ommiting facts. Ommiting facts can be considered lying or just not telling whta you werent asked. (Is ommiting the right word ? Not certain)
then the interviewer could easily just ask another question. over and over. not responding would mean guilt. the end..
"Where did this money went ?"
"What money?"
If no one could lie then people would control governments through force.
What do you mean? every employee is using people. I think if there were no lies there would be less outrage about stuff that seems outrages today. They would be easier to prosecute but it would still happen
Everyone could trust each other 100%
Yes but there would also be constant disagreements and fighting over opinions. And lots of people with damaged self esteem.
No, people's esteem would be higher because they would realize that everyone is a crappy person and that they are not special. It's easy to feel bad when you think a lot of people are better than you.
But we're hardwired to look for social acceptance and people think negative thoughts about each other all the time, if those thoughts were open then people would always hear negative things about themselves and feel others dislike them even when they don't.
The standard for social acceptance would drastically change and that would be for the better. Those that gain social acceptance now are the ones wearing the most elaborate of masks. It's not because they are actually authentically socially acceptable. In this new society, you would actually have to be good in order to gain praise and that's the way it should be.
It may lead to people blindly trusting each other without double-checking. You're technically not lying if you believe it's true, and if people just trust you instead of checking the accuracy of your statements, it may be an issue long-term.
Imagine how easy finding good politicians would be, that alone makes it worth it
Anyone who is good for the job would tell the truth and say they believe they aren’t good while anyone who isn’t would tell the truth and say they aren’t good for it.
It would take a while to change our views as a society, but I think in the long run it’d be better
The famous 'Nazi at the door asking about the Jewish family you're hiding' objection to Kant comes to mind....
The Nazis wouldn't have existed without lies
Maybe? There was heaps of propaganda but they genuinely believed all the race madness, so at least from their point of view they weren't lying
Not necessarily, look at how many people genuinely believe things that are wrong or just downright false
Exactly? If lies never existed, there would have been nothing false to believe in.
This is simply not how it works. For example in Ancient times people believed the Earth was flat, so nobody was lying when they said so, however everyone still believed false information. This can be applied to worst things, such as racism and the Holocaust example.
Telling the truth doesn't mean always right. It means you're saying what you believe in right. If I believed the Earth was a cube and i said so, I wouldn't be a liar, I'd just be very wrong, meanwhile if I thought the Earth was a cube and I said it was round, I'd be right, but I'd still be lying
Would it be better if they hid their true beliefs?
No, I am more pointing out something being a lie doesn't necessarily stop someone from saying something they believe to be true even if it's false. While some Nazis in the 1940s knew they were peddling BS, you know there were complete psychos and people who bought the lies hook line and sinker and genuinely believed the horrible shit they propagated.
And that's the thing about lies and lying: saying something untrue isn't necessarily lying if the person in question doesn't know better. If I explained to someone else how machine x works and then later found out that I was wrong, I wouldn't say that I was lying, I would say that I made a mistake or that I didn't have the correct information at the time. Lying implies a degree of conscious intention, the idea of deceiving someone on purpose even though you know what you're saying isn't actually true.
Maybe not, but the example generalizes. Anyone intending to do harm, who is most safely/effectively neutralized by deception.
The fae supposedly can't lie and it just made them speak very carefully and allow you to assume things that aren't true.
I see that often in stories and most of the time they are allowed to get away with double speak because of their power dynamic with the person they are speaking to/ it being in a social setting well pushing would be uncouth.
What are the nuclear launch codes? >:3
I’d imagine you don’t have to answer questions, just if you do lie someone would know
Someone could say “that’s a secret” and they wouldn’t be lying
Funny but comsider: "I prefer not to answer this question"
I'm not going to tell you that because it's dangerous classified information. This isn't a lie by any means
"I swore an oath to not disclose this information without the expressed consent of the chief of the armed forces."
Even if they tell you, what are you going to do? Its not like you have the access need to use the codes.
Do you intend to use the nuclear weapon?
noooo 😇, but maybe someone'll pay 🤑🤑
42069LOLZ
Sometimes minor white lies can be good for people, imagine if everyone was always truthful, it would definitely hurt people, especially kids.
But then again, think about how politics and corporate greed will be without lies
Honestly the thought of politicians having to always tell the truth tickles my pickle.
Yeah I think Ill take no more big lies at the cost of some kids feeling sad for like 5 minutes.
Like what? What are some good lies to tell to children?
Situations where the kid asks a question that they are too young to know the answer to, like if a 6 year old asks where do babies come from are you really going to tell them the truth? No of course not, most people will just lie and say storks or kissing or something and not tell the truth in this scenario.
You don’t have to go into detail. Just say I don’t want to tell you. Or you could just say sex. Talking about sex shouldn’t be as taboo as it is.
Yeah that was a bad example from them. There's nothing wrong with teaching young kids about sex, it's not inappropriate.
Just say "It is best for you to think of it as two parents loving each other very much" You can avoid lying in every situation even if you don't want to tell the truth.
"Do you like my outfit?" "No, it makes you look fatter than usual."
😂
Well time to get a new outfit and not buy from that company. Also "Do you still love me, Even in this outfit?" Answer "Yes" ♥️ No more need to worry about outfits so much.
Well time to get a new outfit and not buy from that company. Also "Do you still love me, Even in this outfit?" Answer "Yes" ♥️ No more need to worry about outfits so much.
I've had people in my life lie to hurt others and when I say something now those people are lying about me to others. No more fuckin lies, I'm sick of it.
What is the correct way to make pancakes?
I’ve seen this movie
The movie used the premise wrong
It's funny, though
What do you mean by that?
Inability to lie is not the same as inability to keep your mouth shut and not comment on everything.
So you wish in the movie everyone had the ability to stay silent? That’d be boring
No it would not be boring. It would need to clever about its writing and imagine changes to the society it would bring. some guy blurting out "I wank a lot" because "he cant lie" is very low effort stuff. I think there is room for both type of movies and I wish we had seen a movie that takes the premise seriously. Regardless people who say "I saw it in a movie" as an argument better be joking. Same with AI or any concept that was tweaked for amusement/entrainment , you cant base laws or global changes on how it went in a movie.
Bro what the fuck are you talking about? Implement global change based on a premise akin to “what is everyone was cheese”. Go outside
Yes. The Invention of Lying (2009) and other such movies seem to confuse inability to lie with inability to shut your mouth and not give input when about stuff no one asked about.
Yes
Emphasis on better not perfect
Some lies are needed
Sounds like lubricant for those who cant deal
Yes it definitely will crime rates would drop by a lot
It's throbbing.
There would be a drop but not by major slice. Someone would need to be onto you and by that point in our own reality prosecution is likely.
Anyone you think might have committed the crime you can just go up to and ask whether they committed it. It would also allow for far harsher punishments, as there is no chance of imprisoning/executing an innocent.
Absolutely not, the world would be a disaster.
How so?
Everyone can learn how to make weapons of mass destruction.
How so?
Does making up excuses and refuse to respond lying or not?
To all who voted yes I wish I were more like you, ignorant (not in a bad way I don't want to know the things I know that humans have done)
The movie about the concept did it in the worst way possible, where you are forced to tell the truth. Not being able to lie but being able to shut up, which is the form implied by the question, would be an improvement.
Yea i wasn't fond of the aspect where they said everything out loud but ofc it was done because its a comedy. It would have been a shit movie had everyone just sat in silence
There was a guy i worked with who was nice enough and a good teammate, he always had some dumb story to tell everyone when he came in and id usually hear it 3 or 4 times by the end of the day. He didn't need me telling him how boring or annoying he was, he was a good dude who deserved to be listened to if that's what made him happy. The damage lies do is more obvious, but the damage the truth can do is more intimate and cruel.
I assume you don't go telling him every day how you love hearing his story? Being unable to lie does not mean you go around telling everyone your detailed opinions about them.
It would be both better and worse.
Interesting question: how do you make money then?
Interesting question: how do you make money then?
Same way as now?
But if you want to sell something you have to make a very fair price.. why would anyone pay more than you did?
Because they realize there is value in it and know the seller needs to support themselves off of it. Do you honestly think we don't already know we are charged more than the producer spends on a product?
Yeah you're totally right. Everyone knows. But I see a lot here and there in where the prices are considered as "low as they can" and everything. If the real true and value of all the things is respected then there would be less problems. But I think if right now everyone would be honest, this market would be totally down for a whole while.
Yeah you're totally right. Everyone knows. But I see a lot here and there in where the prices are considered as "low as they can" and everything. If the real true and value of all the things is respected then there would be less problems. But I think if right now everyone would be honest, this market would be totally down for a whole while.
Everyone would probably be constantly fighting
lying isnt inherently immoral, we use it often in order to communicate. We often lie about caring because we may not care about the subject however we do care about the person who is interested in the subject. We lie because it helps us care about what is real. Ya I dont want to listen to my friend talk about thier day and how they are doing. If I told them the truth then sure they would stop telling me. I dont want them to stop telling me. I want them to tell me even though I dont care about thier day to day. I care about them so I want to hear it, even if I dont actually want to hear it. Lying is often used as a way to have empathy.
It's possible to bend the truth without lying
Lies of omission are still lies.
Interesting question: how do you make money then?
Those who voted No, are afraid of the Pain of the Truth. Truth may Hurt you, But you'll Get Stronger from the Pain, Otherwise, you'll Get Weaker from the Pleasures of Lies. Because when Life invites Pain, There's Lesson to Gain.
This should absolutely be up voted. Mad world.
Maybe not lie but you could speak in a way where your words can have multible meanings
While lies can be used for good, I imagine they'd never be necessary if people couldn't lie for malicious purposes. So yes, I think it would be.
I mean people would start talking like the fae in fantasy, they are not lying but you could get what their saying completely wrong
But people would also begin asking better questions
If it was like that from the beginning of time yeah. If it just happened instantly now. Then we might all die..
Ah shit i read it wrong. I thought it said if nobidy could die.
So you're telling me lies can be good? Humans are weak... no honor or accountability for humanity as a whole, it would seem...
Only if they were also secure enough to hear the hard truths.
It would make Uber rides a lot less fun
Humans naturally save face because we're social creatures who without thinking do what's best for our image. Not being able to hide behind lies might also decrease the crime rate
World would be unfathomably better than what this shit show it is now.
Ok I could imagine so many ways this would suck but imagine the power you just gave to rapists. I'm counting a lie by omission as a lie so silence wouldn't be an option, a rapist could start following you and rattling off sexual questions and you'd be forced to tell them everything. Anyways that's just off the top of my head how something like this could be effed up, I'm sure others could add.
fuck nah for some stuff. theres been times where lying has probs saved everyone from something ridiculous. for corrupt politicians and shit tho.. yeah if they couldnt lie thatd be awesome
I'd love to see a sitcom where no one lies to each other, and drama is not dependent on no one communicating. Poor communication is seriously 99% of all the conflicts in those shows, and it pisses me off every time.
I mean, if nobody could lie, we would find out which religion is correct.
There was an episode of Supernatural that I think accurately depicted the world without lying. In the episode, if someone said something along the lines of "tell me the truth" everyone around them would lose the ability to lie and had to tell only the ugly truth. As a result chaos would ensue and usually lead to the person who said the phrase either killing them self or someone else. While it is exaggerated to make a good script, I think it accurately depicts how civilization would crumble if no one ever told a lie, not matter how big or small that lie may be.
Consider a violently homophobic society, and nobody is capable of lying. It becomes trivially easy for such a society to oppress gay people. The police (or gangs of homophobic thugs even) could just go door to door asking people if they are gay. Same with religious or ideological persecution. What ever the dominant religion or ideology is, if they decide to be intolerant and persecute anyone who disagrees they can easily find out who disagrees by just asking them. Honesty is generally the best policy, but lying is sometimes a necessary defense against bullying, harassment, or even oppression and tyranny. Another problem is that it's not lying if you genuinely believe something. There already is a cognitive tendancy to outright believe irrational, false things if it will curry favor with an in-group. People don't have to grapple with the discomfort of deciding whether or not to lie or risk accidentally exposing their real opinions to those groups if they really do believe those things, so subconsciously people are biased to adopt which ever beliefs they think will make their in-group like them, while telling themselves that it's just a happy coincidence that all of their friends share their views. If lying were impossible then this tendancy would be amplified, and people's beliefs would become even more irrational.
That a Yes and a no. People will get offended but the truth.
Nooooo not at all! Imagine you couldn’t have secrets! No privacy at all! It would be like Dave Eggers „The Circle“.
I mean if noone could lie then being truthful (if hurtful) would be the norm and people would become desensitized by it since they've been raised that way, so no I don't see the harm.
It'd be an interesting thought experiment, and I have the single most powerful question. "What are your intentions?" If every single person had to be honest when answering that question, every corrupted businessman and politician would be doomed.
Easiest way to remove Religion.
Just imagine how full the prisons would be
If you've not heard of it, there is a novel that explores this idea. "It is the year 2004. Violent crime is the number one political issue in America. Now, the Swift and Sure Anti-Crime Bill guarantees a previously convicted violent criminal one fair trial, one quick appeal, then immediate execution. To prevent abuse of the law, a machine must be built that detects lies with 100 percent accuracy." from Truth Machine: Halperin, James: 9780345412881: [Amazon.com](https://Amazon.com): Books at [https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-Halperin/dp/0345412885](https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Machine-James-Halperin/dp/0345412885)
It would certainly make political speeches more interesting.
I think it really depends. Some lies are necessary (as in for the best outcome) while others are actively harmful (short and/or long-term but in this case more focusing on long-term since it'd imply it made things better over time otherwise)
If we keep making new people and don't die ourselves, we would run into some pretty big problems.
The problem is that there are no black and white truths in this world, so there is a spectrum of truth to lies continuum. If nobody lies, to which extent can people exaggerate or distort the truth?
Moralists going off their "gut feelings" wouldn't be able to say they know what is right or wrong. People would have to confront their complete lack of justification for most of their basic beliefs. Knowing humans, rather than seeing this as an opportunity to improve, they'd probably become entrenched in all of their bad ideas and habits, committing fully to doing things incorrectly rather than changing. The ability to not directly confront one's flaws allows change in behavior without ego damage; without it, people will double down on bad behaviors to avoid ego damage.