Comment by Brennan on Protected From Myself · 2008-10-19T03:16:09.000Z · LW · GW

"The universe isn't set up to reward virtue", but I think most people are. If someone is deceiving you then doing what they ask is likely not in your interest, otherwise they could persuade you without deception.

If something is difficult to explain due to technical understanding, you can 'lie' about it, while noting that it is an oversimplification intended to give an idea, and not wholly correct. I believe this is the norm for science publications targeted at the general population.

To lie effectively, I find the only way is to convince myself of something I know to be false. Then I can subsequently tell what I believe to be the truth without things like keeping track of what I told who or body language clues. This is, of course, still perilous and immoral in other ways, and often non-permanent since certain things can trigger the original memory.