Liar Liar goes global.

[Iroscato]

So let's say by some miracle, not a single lie on planet Earth can be spoken for a period of 24 hours. Nobody can speak, write, text, type or sign a falsehood, even in isolation- it is physically impossible.
What are the political, social, and economic implications of both such an incredible event occurring globally, and the inability to lie in itself?

[The Xeelee]

War.

[bilateralrope]

Does everyone know it's only 24 hours, or does the truth field end just as suddenly as it began ?

When someone tries to lie do they speak the truth instead, or do they just not speak ?

[Scrib]

So let's say by some miracle, not a single lie on planet Earth can be spoken for a period of 24 hours. Nobody can speak, write, text, type or sign a falsehood, even in isolation- it is physically impossible.
What are the political, social, and economic implications of both such an incredible event occurring globally, and the inability to lie in itself?

Horrible destruction on every level of human society unless everyone becomes mute. From the personal to the international everyone is fucked. Lies, for lack of a better word, are good. Lies obfuscate, lies hide, lies capture essence of the human evolutionary spirit.

Okay, with that indulgent bullshit aside: lies are an irreplaceable social lubricant,we need them. People need that cloak.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I always wondered just HOW such a "truth field" works.

I mean, is it out to get you? In "Liar Liar" every time he tried to tell a lie, it wasn't just the truth that come out, it was the MOST OFFENSIVE AND UNFLATTERING truth he could possibly say!"

I mean if someone asks:
"Hey Bill, what do you think of this shirt?"

Do you get...
"I think it makes you like like a fat ugly whale with no fashion sense!!!"
or
"I don't think it looks good."

I mean, I work in sales these days. If someone asks me "Will my item be there in 10 days?" And I see it has an 11day deliver time, I'd say "it COULD be there, by 10 days" because hey, things DO go out earlier, right?

Personally, I think a lot of it would have to do with your personality inside. basically weather you are an ass or not. ((If I recall, the main character in 'Liar Liar' WAS a colossal ass hat.))

[Channel72]

I don't see why the consequences would necessarily be so bad. People mostly lie to conceal information or avoid offending others. If faced with a situation where, for whatever reason, it's physically impossible to lie, yet you don't want to say anything that would offend someone/reveal secret information, etc., you could just like... you know, refuse to answer, change the subject, etc.

I guess one major consequence would be in the media sphere. What would Fox News even broadcast for that day? (hurr hurr... +1 SD.net cred)

[The Xeelee]

Imagine a reporter asking a politician if they are gay. In America that could cost them in elections. L

Or worse imagine north Korea and citizens being asked "do you support the government?"

[Channel72]

Imagine a reporter asking a politician if they are gay.

Politicians avoid answering direct questions all the time. (c.f. any American political debate ever)

Reporter: Senator, are you gay?
Senator: What matters in America are jobs! Blah blah... main street... family values... blah

[Lost Soal]

Have you watched Liar Liar recently, he was never able to avoid answering a question put to him or change the subject. The best he was ever able to do was saying he was beat up by a desperate man, which he was.
There is also the question of what time this kicks in for when the situation becomes widely understood. If it starts say 10:00 sunday morning in the US, there will be a hell of an impact as all the Sunday show polititions suddenly find out on live TV they can't lie while the hosts can't ask deliberately missleading questions.

[PainRack]

He was able to divert the topic, once he knew of the curse.


In that courtroom scene, he asked the judge for a recess to go to the toilet, the judge asked him "do you need to go".

He replied truthfully no, but he heard that holding it in can cause health problems.
Which caused his desired recess to come about.


Hell, it didn't even matter whether holding in urine could cause cancer. He could just repeat factoids that he heard and thought are true, so.... Fox news survives:D

Or they could just misrepresent the truth, like when Jim Carey lied about how he was beaten up..... by himself.

[Kojiro]

It'd be interesting to see how it'd be treated legally. If it affected the whole planet, such that every single person was intimately familiar with the effect, would it be considered coercion if you admitted to a crime? Would that matter if we all knew the answer was truthful?

[Deebles]

Utter chaos.

The degree might depend a little on the society, and how much they normally tolerate bullshit etc. anyway... but liars, frauds and hypocrites may be found everywhere.

[Channel72]

There's a big difference between outright lying, and dishonesty. Most lawyers and politicians are dishonest much more often than they are outright liars. They simply twist the truth by, e.g. cherrypicking facts (global warming is a hoax because it snowed today!), or highlighting certain data points which strengthen their case while ignoring others. Defense lawyers in particular rarely need to even lie - they just need to concoct possible "what if" scenarios to create reasonable doubt, or poke holes in the prosecution's case. Technically that's not really outright lying.

[Borgholio]

I think it all depends on if you're forced to answer a question or not. Otherwise I could just keep my mouth shut or say "I'd rather not answer that question".

[Iroscato]

Does everyone know it's only 24 hours, or does the truth field end just as suddenly as it began ?

When someone tries to lie do they speak the truth instead, or do they just not speak ?

Sorry for the delayed reply. Nobody knows what the hell is going on, and yes it ends as quickly as it began. For simplicity's sake, it starts at 0000 GMT.
And when they try to lie, there is a moment's struggle internally and then the truth spills out.

[Lagmonster]

It's also worth asking if people are to be forced to answer the question with The Truth, or forced to answer with the truth as they believe it to be. Conviction plays a part in people's personal reality, after all. And the former condition (absolute truth) could be a major benefit to society if we started asking the really philosophically tough questions of each other and noting the responses ("Is there a God?" "No." "Well fuck.")

[Iroscato]

I think suddenly being endowed with the ability to convey the absolute truth would be taking it too far (yes, I know it's already a ridiculous scenario, but you know what I mean). If we could speak the absolute truth, for whatever period of time, it would take us into superpower territory, as we would effectively have almost unlimited knowledge of life, the universe and everything.
I didn't really think about it at first, but in this particular scenario it is the truth within the limits of personal knowledge.

[Scrib]

Imagine a reporter asking a politician if they are gay. In America that could cost them in elections. L

Or worse imagine north Korea and citizens being asked "do you support the government?"

Imagine negotiations between countries or corporations where one party cannot obfuscate except in an exceptionally suspicious manner. Since you can't outright lie and say something like:"I look forward to this new era of peace between our nations or whatever" you will almost certainly be outed. God help you if you are the weaker party or part of your leverage is due to lack of knowledge on the other side. "So your last job paid you how much? And you say you can't find work?".

I suppose you could just completely avoid everything, but good luck moving forward.

[Irbis]

Imagine a reporter asking a politician if they are gay. In America that could cost them in elections.

"No" (of course I am not 'happy', that question is stupid).

Or worse imagine north Korea and citizens being asked "do you support the government?"

"Of course" ('south' Korean one, actually, but I do).

Are these lies?

[Ahriman238]

Jim Carrey in that movie didn't just have a problem with telling falsehoods or holding information back, he went around blurting out the first thing that came to mind like a four-year-old man-child with no filters whatsoever. That's why women kept slapping him. Or when he calls his bosses hypocrites and morons to their faces (but was able to play the whole thing as a joke, somehow) or when an overweight colleague asks him what's up and he shoots back "your cholesterol."

[Borgholio]

Or when he simply tries to say that a blue pen is red...and it proceeds to attack him.

[Irbis]

Jim Carrey in that movie didn't just have a problem with telling falsehoods or holding information back, he went around blurting out the first thing that came to mind like a four-year-old man-child with no filters whatsoever.

What if question has 2 valid answers? Can you control which one you give?

Say, someone asks me what color my laptop is. I can say grey (old one) or black (new one). Can I say one, must I say both, or can I 'lie' by saying grey and black (meaning bi-color laptop, as the question was about one)? What exactly stops quick thinking people from exploiting true answers that might not be what the question was about?

[Borgholio]

It seems Carrey was forced to give the truthful answer that would cause the most havoc.

[Ahriman238]

Don't know, it's a fairly silly comedy and the mechanism and limits aren't explored that much.

The closest he manages to come to lying is when he beats himself up in a courtroom bathroom so he can be excused. When they drag him in, the judge asks who did this to him and he looks terrified half a second before blurting out "a mad man!" Of course, a moment later the judge asks him if he can continue and he reluctantly says yes.

The "roast scene he clearly wants desperately to not answer.

[PainRack]

Jim Carrey in that movie didn't just have a problem with telling falsehoods or holding information back, he went around blurting out the first thing that came to mind like a four-year-old man-child with no filters whatsoever. That's why women kept slapping him. Or when he calls his bosses hypocrites and morons to their faces (but was able to play the whole thing as a joke, somehow) or when an overweight colleague asks him what's up and he shoots back "your cholesterol."

To be fair, that seems to be more the character status, of him being a real jerk who has his lying protective layer ripped off of him than the result of the wish.

Afterall, he was able to misdirect about the toilet scene(twice!) and when he was pressured to continue after the beating, he reluctantly said yes instead of some embarassing factoid.(For example, yes, but I really really don't wanna!)