Ontopic: most people count it as cheating, IIRC, but then some people count almost anything as cheating.
You mean “most people count [dirty talk] as cheating [when you’re in a relationship with someone else]”? Or “most people count [self-sophistry in attempt to fool lie detectors] as cheating [when taking surveys]”? If the former, yes, but then most people would count French kissing as cheating, too, whereas virtually no-one would count is as sex. If the latter… I don’t think such people give a damn whether they are cheating, or if they did they’d also answer honestly when there’s no fake lie detector.
Offtopic: does anyone know if that actually works?
AFAIK lie detectors measure the effect of emotional responses (heart rate, sweating, etc.), so to a zeroth approximation you’ll get caught iff you alieve you’ll get caught. So, it’d depend on how the respondents alieve lie detectors work.
IME (though these anecdotes date back to my childhood, so my recollection may be unreliable), when Muggle adults see a toy that purports to be a lie detector (e.g. an analog thermometer like a mood ring), they start to say statements whose truth value they couldn’t possibly know themselves (e.g. “Juventus will defeat Manchester Utd tomorrow night”) and purport that they will bet based on the outcome. Which means that either 1) they are idiots, or 2) they realize that the widget cannot possibly detect lies, and sarcastically reduce the claim ad absurdum. If it’s 1), such people may think that lie detectors somehow respond to the actual words you say rather than your state of mind, and so that they wouldn’t detect a statement that is denotationally true but connotationally false.
loose track of when you’re telling them something you actually made up
You mean “lose track of what the truth is”, or “lose track of what you told them”? I’d guess the former (or that there’s a missing “than” somewhere); the latter would contradict my experience, but then AFAIK I’m worse at (and reluctant to) lying than most other people.
You mean “most people count [dirty talk] as cheating [when you’re in a relationship with someone else]”?
Whoops! Overlooked the double meaning of “cheating”. I meant it regarding the sex stuff, not the lie stuff.
AFAIK lie detectors measure the effect of emotional responses (heart rate, sweating, etc.), so to a zeroth approximation you’ll get caught iff you alieve you’ll get caught. So, it’d depend on how the respondents alieve lie detectors work.
Not that’s an idea I hadn’t heard before. I’ve always seen it framed as “people are nervous when they lie.”
IME (though these anecdotes date back to my childhood, so my recollection may be unreliable), when Muggle adults see a toy that purports to be a lie detector (e.g. an analog thermometer like a mood ring), they start to say statements whose truth value they couldn’t possibly know themselves (e.g. “Juventus will defeat Manchester Utd tomorrow night”) and purport that they will bet based on the outcome. Which means that either 1) they are idiots, or 2) they realize that the widget cannot possibly detect lies, and sarcastically reduce the claim ad absurdum. If it’s 1), such people may think that lie detectors somehow respond to the actual words you say rather than your state of mind, and so that they wouldn’t detect a statement that is denotationally true but connotationally false.
I’m pretty sure I’ve made that same joke, as essentially a pun on the two meanings of “truth”. Still …
You mean “most people count [dirty talk] as cheating [when you’re in a relationship with someone else]”? Or “most people count [self-sophistry in attempt to fool lie detectors] as cheating [when taking surveys]”? If the former, yes, but then most people would count French kissing as cheating, too, whereas virtually no-one would count is as sex. If the latter… I don’t think such people give a damn whether they are cheating, or if they did they’d also answer honestly when there’s no fake lie detector.
AFAIK lie detectors measure the effect of emotional responses (heart rate, sweating, etc.), so to a zeroth approximation you’ll get caught iff you alieve you’ll get caught. So, it’d depend on how the respondents alieve lie detectors work.
IME (though these anecdotes date back to my childhood, so my recollection may be unreliable), when Muggle adults see a toy that purports to be a lie detector (e.g. an analog thermometer like a mood ring), they start to say statements whose truth value they couldn’t possibly know themselves (e.g. “Juventus will defeat Manchester Utd tomorrow night”) and purport that they will bet based on the outcome. Which means that either 1) they are idiots, or 2) they realize that the widget cannot possibly detect lies, and sarcastically reduce the claim ad absurdum. If it’s 1), such people may think that lie detectors somehow respond to the actual words you say rather than your state of mind, and so that they wouldn’t detect a statement that is denotationally true but connotationally false.
You mean “lose track of what the truth is”, or “lose track of what you told them”? I’d guess the former (or that there’s a missing “than” somewhere); the latter would contradict my experience, but then AFAIK I’m worse at (and reluctant to) lying than most other people.
Whoops! Overlooked the double meaning of “cheating”. I meant it regarding the sex stuff, not the lie stuff.
Not that’s an idea I hadn’t heard before. I’ve always seen it framed as “people are nervous when they lie.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve made that same joke, as essentially a pun on the two meanings of “truth”. Still …