Posted by
Steve Smith on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Privacy-vs-Open-Public-Data-tp7581246p7581347.html
Nick -
<base href="x-msg://671/">
Sorry.
I wasn’t asking whether we lie or not. Or even whether it
eases some social situations. I was asking for a theory of
why lying greases social situations. Why is the NET effect
of small lies positive? I can think of some reasons. Like
chimpanzees, we live in a fision-fusion situation. The size
of the lie that one can “honestly” tell probably depends in
many cases on the frequency with which one sees the person
one is lying to. And then there is the distinction between
speech as stroking and speech as conveying of information.
I get that wrong, a lot.
To expand the argumentation without being (hopefully) argumentative,
I defer to Glen's aphorism:
"The problem with communication is the illusion that it exists."
and also offer the analogy to "tolerancing" in mechanical systems.
To the extent that communication (as we idealize it) is an illusion,
then everything we say (or hear?) is inaccurate in the way that "all
models are wrong, some are useful". Since what we say (and hear)
is intrinsically inaccurate, everything is, in that sense a *lie*.
We bias and expand these inaccuracies to our convenience and they
become lies in the traditional sense of the term.
These *lies* are useful to more than optimizing our personal
situation in the way that two parts fit together with a deliberate
*tolerance* work better over the long run than those fit as
precisely as possible and then allowed to "wear in". Among other
things, a broken part cannot simply be replaced by another one
identical to the original, it must be custom fit to match the wear
on the broken part. The wear patterns on the part have become part
of the system. By introducing some well-controlled and deliberate
error (aka tolerance) into the parts of the system, they do not need
to wear as much to "break in" and as a result replacing a broken
part with a new "unworn" one is more effective.
More formally trained engineers here may correct me of course.
The effectivity of interchangeable parts in mass production was
heavily dependent on this kind of tolerancing. I submit that in
human exchange, proper tolerancing is like the use of "white
lies". There are limits to the accuracy of our communication (fit
of our parts) so we might as well bias the (mis) fit toward leaving
room for the social machine to continue to function. A hand-fit
machine can have higher performance and efficiency than one designed
with suitable tolerances to not require careful break-in and to
optimize replacement of parts down the line. Or to extend the
metaphor of social engagement as mechanical system, humans are like
gears with teeth that engage. If gears were not designed with
"lash" (a specific form of tolerance), they would bind. If humans
are not allowed a little bit of error in their communication (biased
to their own needs) then they will bind.
Tolerancing also helps to manage "degrees of freedom". Gears must
be co-linear (or orthogonal in some case) to work properly. A gear
which "wobbles" too much on it's axis can bind, but a little bit of
that "wobble" can also prevent binding in an otherwise overly
closely toleranced system. In human discourse, it might be the
equivalent of changing the subject or giving evasive answers.
Q: "Do you like my new hat honey?"
A: "It is really unique!"
I
am having a hard time thinking how this is related to my
original question about whether there should be a law
against using public data to track individual behavior. I
know that I opened up the subthread about shame and guilt,
so I stipulate that it is my fault that we are talking about
it. And I actually think it is related. I just can’t state
the relation. I am thinking we might be moving toward a
belief that truth is like arousal … life goes best when one
has a moderate level of it. There was a wonderful study
done some years ago about he relation between truth and the
best marriages. Married folk were asked to play The Dating
Game together …. i.e., guess what spouses answers to
personal questions would be, preferences, what have you.
Three categories of respondents were identified: spouse
pairs that had an unrealistical enhanced view of one
another, spouse pairs that had an unrealistically jaundiced
view of one another, and spouse pairs that had a realistic
view of one another. As you might expect, the first group
maintained the most enduring marriages.
But
this just brings me back to the need for a theory of why a
society is better is there is just a bit less truth in it.
A pragmatic notion, but not, I fear, a Pragmatic one.
Nick
From:
Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf
Of Parks, Raymond
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 11:19 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee
Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] [EXTERNAL] Re: Privacy vs
Open Public Data
I prefer embarrassed to shamed - perhaps
there's a spectrum from proud to embarrassed to shamed to
guilty.
Perhaps white lies do not grease your
part of the wheels of society - but I'm reasonably sure,
based on my experience, that they are in use in many
societies including ours. There's the blatant pretense of
privacy that Marcus mentioned exists in Japan. There's the
"white" lies mentioned in books of etiquette. There's the
common jokes about answering one's SO's question of whether
they look good (in particular clothing or after getting
their hair styled or ….). These are all proof that we lie
frequently in order to grease the wheels of society.
Consilient
Heuristician/IDART Program Manager
V:
505-844-4024 M: 505-238-9359 P: 505-951-6084
On Jan 16, 2013, at 3:01 PM, Nicholas
Thompson wrote:
I
guess I am a behaviorist about shame. If my behavior
makes me blush than it was shameful. Guilt, on the
other hand is something the law determines. Just my
way of talking, I guess.
But
why do petty lies grease the wheels of society. What
lies behind that confident assertion?
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