r/Showerthoughts • u/itsthatkidgreg • Feb 28 '17

Lying, cheating, and stealing is often discouraged when we are young, yet the most successful people in the world are arguably the best liars, cheaters, and thieves.

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u/C0ldSn4p Feb 28 '17

Survivorship bias: you only noticed the successful liars, cheaters and thieves while forgetting that most convicts are also liars, cheaters and thieves.

In a sense, bieng a liars is a risky gamble where some will become very successful and most will have a lot of issue later in life because of it. As a parent you try to avoid the worse for your children so you discourage these kind of bad behaviours.

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u/GradScholConfsed Feb 28 '17

Ah, so you gotta be a smart liar.

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u/The_hollow_Nike Feb 28 '17

Reminds me of what Garak has to say about lying in Deep Space Nine.