load-bearing truth

truth is one of those things that *isn't* a terminal value, but which is SO easily corrupted and has SO many butterfly effects that fallible humans are better off treating it as one. as ur models and lies begin to diverge from reality they pick up pace in ways u would not predict

@eurydicelives

[quoted tweet unavailable]

in abstract if u could believe a single small false statement about a rock in idaho and that would make u 50x happier every day, u should. in reality the kinds of falsehoods that "improve" ur life in fact make ur ability to handle continued evolution of the world fragile

fully accepting various religious systems was much easier when we had little understanding of the world. the contradictions caused problems. even things we now think are immaterial around minds and souls and morality will become concrete and real with AI

beyond that , once u accept lying as a valid personal and social strategy, the local incentive to lie is everywhere. and yet this too creates a basin, an adversarial environment where u must expend effort being something ur not to people who aren't

truth matters. it's not just an instrumental goal but the primary instrument by which we really affect our world. don't cripple urself.

btw

@tenobrus

basically every single longthread i've ever posted has been a direct or indirect rewording of something eliezer yudkowsky wrote. in this case, https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/XTWkjCJScy2GFAgDt/dark-side-epistemology and https://www.lesswrong.com/s/qqFS6Kw5fmPyzkLby/p/Hs3ymqypvhgFMkgLb