Given how people actually act, a norm of “no literal falsehoods, but you can say deceptive but literally true things” will encourage deception in a way that “no deception unless really necessary” will not. “It’s literally true, so it isn’t lying” will easily slip to “it’s literally true, so it isn’t very deceptive”, which will lead to people being more willing to deceive.
It’s also something that only Jedi, certain religious believers, autists, Internet rationalists, and a few other odd groups would think is a good idea. “It isn’t lying because what I said was literally true” is a proposition that most people see as sophistry.
Eliezer mostly talks about the idea that ‘No literal lies’ isn’t morally necessary, but I take it from the “your sentences never provided Bayesian evidence in the wrong direction” goal that he also wouldn’t consider this morally sufficient.
Given how people actually act, a norm of “no literal falsehoods, but you can say deceptive but literally true things” will encourage deception in a way that “no deception unless really necessary” will not. “It’s literally true, so it isn’t lying” will easily slip to “it’s literally true, so it isn’t very deceptive”, which will lead to people being more willing to deceive.
It’s also something that only Jedi, certain religious believers, autists, Internet rationalists, and a few other odd groups would think is a good idea. “It isn’t lying because what I said was literally true” is a proposition that most people see as sophistry.
Eliezer mostly talks about the idea that ‘No literal lies’ isn’t morally necessary, but I take it from the “your sentences never provided Bayesian evidence in the wrong direction” goal that he also wouldn’t consider this morally sufficient.