How Could Truth Technology Transform Our Understanding of Honesty?

[Ivan Seeking]

A number of reports like this are surfacing.

Unlike the polygraph or lie detector to which it is often compared, the accuracy of this technology lies in its ability to pick up the electrical signal, known as a p300 wave, before the suspect has time to affect the output.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3495433.stm

Also

... Here's how it would work: You're in a meeting, and each person in attendance is hooked up to a computer that's monitoring their perspiration and heartbeat, reading their facial expressions and head motions, analyzing their voice tones and then presenting them with a running account of how they are feeling. This information will also be transmitted to everyone else in the meeting.

Talking too much? A pop-up window appears on the screen to tell you to shut up. Feeling edgy? A message reminds you to calm down. Got a big account or project to assign? Scan the feed to see which employee is feeling the perkiest that morning.[continued]

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13516

And...

Lie-detector glasses offer peek at future of security

Portland, Ore. — It may not be long before you hear airport security screeners ask, "Do you plan on hijacking this plane?" A U.S. company using technology developed in Israel is pitching a lie detector small enough to fit in the eyeglasses of law enforcement officers, and its inventors say it can tell whether a passenger is a terrorist by analyzing his answer to that simple question in real-time.

The technology, developed by mathematician Amir Lieberman at Nemesysco in Zuran, Israel, for military, insurance claim and law enforcement use, is being repackaged and retargeted for personal and corporate applications by V Entertainment (New York).[continued]

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13037

If technology were to expose all lies, how would the world be changed? The evolution of "truth technology" strikes me as a highly significant event in human history. Even Sci Fi has mostly missed the implications of a completely truthful world.

 

[mouseonmoon]

years and years ago as a student in Psychology, I remember the prof. offered an example of
a guy in a mental institution who 'believed' he was Napoleon ...he was given the polygraph examination and the question was put to him,'Are you Napoleon?'...he answered,"No"...
according to the test results he was lying!

I honestly don't know if this 'story' is true or not to this day?
Seems to me the prof. 'believed' it...

There's a fanscinating 'study/book' called "The Three Christs of Ysipsilanti" --which is/was a mental institution in Michigan...three guys who 'believed' they were 'Jesus Christ' were brought together...

 

[Zero]

In other words, a "lie detector" cannot factor for mental illness, and probably cannot factor for very skilled liars who can train themselves to "believe their own lies".

BTW, as I have noted before...the concept of the polygraph was formulated by the creator of Wonder Woman, and it works about as well as her "magic lasso" would work in real life.