> Human society overwhelmingly rewards lying cheating and stealing.

I’d like to push back on that. Civilization is very much a function of large numbers of people being able to coordinate across time and space, and widespread and systematic lying, cheating, and stealing would undermine that.

I think your cynicism is misplaced.

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voidfunc 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Thats why man invented Gods and religion. Keep the masses believing in the importance of cooperation and being good while you rob them blind.

	▲	jacquesm an hour ago \| parent [-]
		That's super cynical but I can't help it, I agree. The weird thing that really gets me is that it is happening out in the open for everybody to see.

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skinfaxi 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think their point was, if you look at who controls the most resources, they are rarely the ones we would consider worthy of honor.

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GolfPopper 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Civilization functions because the vast majority of its inhabitants do not lie, cheat, and steal. But that allows liars, cheats, and thieves who are able to get away with their destructive behaviors to accumulate outsize power and influence.

And we seem to have gotten quite bad at reliably bringing consequences/punishment/justice to the most successful liars, cheats, and thieves.

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nyeah 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

He didn't quite say "widespread." He said "rewarded."

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leoedin 2 hours ago | parent [-]

But we don't overwhelmingly reward lying, cheating and stealing. Depending on the social status and wealth of the person doing it, we either punish it or tolerate it. Most people who lie, cheat or steal will be punished for it. To get away with it you need to plan you actions carefully - either with plausible deniability or by very carefully selecting your victims.

	▲	jacquesm an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Pretty much all of the people that are in the billionaire class with a few exceptions have been rewarded while repeatedly lying, cheating and stealing. The fact that it is white collar crime rather than that there is a corpse is one part of the reason it works, the other is that their money effectively insulates them against the legal system. Every now and then someone falls from grace but overall the rules seems to be that you can get away with it if the numbers are large enough. It's depressing.
	▲	notanastronaut an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Or by having more money/power than the legislating body of the area you live in. I could gesticulate around broadly in a more frantic fashion, but my point should get across.

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AndrewKemendo an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not cynicism it's history

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Xirdus 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Widespread and systematic lying, cheating and stealing is how every democratic nation in the world describes their own government.