Whether lie dectors would be used by the people to keep a check on the powerful, or used by the powerful to keep a check on the people, seems to come down to how power is balanced when lie detectors as invented.
I’m skeptical that it would be used by the people to keep a check on the powerful though. Suppose a lie detector comes out today, and we actually get to use it on Trump and ask him a bunch of questions. How many people will actually change their minds about him, as opposed to make something up about lie detectors so that they wouldn’t have to go through the uncomfortable exercise of changing their minds?
In order for lie detectors to be useful for the people, we also need them to have good epistemics. However, I think public epistemics have been just getting worse and worse in the last ten years. Overall. I feel pretty pessimistic about them being a good thing.
Whether lie dectors would be used by the people to keep a check on the powerful, or used by the powerful to keep a check on the people, seems to come down to how power is balanced when lie detectors as invented.
I’m skeptical that it would be used by the people to keep a check on the powerful though. Suppose a lie detector comes out today, and we actually get to use it on Trump and ask him a bunch of questions. How many people will actually change their minds about him, as opposed to make something up about lie detectors so that they wouldn’t have to go through the uncomfortable exercise of changing their minds?
In order for lie detectors to be useful for the people, we also need them to have good epistemics. However, I think public epistemics have been just getting worse and worse in the last ten years. Overall. I feel pretty pessimistic about them being a good thing.