There are a lot of offensive things that “happen to be true” that you don’t say all the time.
Quick heavy-handed illustration:
You meet someone who was badly disfigured in an accident, let’s say this guy, and after taking a look at him say “Holy shit, you’re ugly!”
This is a completely true statement (being scalped by industrial machinery will do that), also rude and offensive, and has very little reason to need saying.
What about “everything that can be destroyed by the truth should be”? There might be an inconsistency between saying maximally true things and not offending people. What is the priority on LW?
On a somewhat related note, I can see it already. You spend years carefully programming your AI, calculating it’s friendliness, making sure it is perfectly bayesian and perfectly honest. You are finally done. You turn it on and the first line it prints: Oh dear, you are quite ugly.
What about “everything that can be destroyed by the truth should be”?
That statement obviously only applies when there is falsehood to be destroyed. I’m sure that guy knows he is not especially pretty. Telling him he’s ugly may be truthful but it’s also kind of like yelling “You’re really hot” at the sun.
If I were badly disfigured I would much prefer people saying that to my face than babbling off a lie. I would even prefer it to silence. If I’m talking to someone and they say nothing of my appearance I’m sure I could tell that they were at least thinking about it. I would much prefer that they think about it out loud than “behind my back” in their head.
Plus, my experience has always been that mutual insults are a great way for people to become friends. Maybe it’s the “civilized” version of play fighting that many animals (and human kids) engage in.
Quick heavy-handed illustration:
You meet someone who was badly disfigured in an accident, let’s say this guy, and after taking a look at him say “Holy shit, you’re ugly!”
This is a completely true statement (being scalped by industrial machinery will do that), also rude and offensive, and has very little reason to need saying.
What about “everything that can be destroyed by the truth should be”? There might be an inconsistency between saying maximally true things and not offending people. What is the priority on LW?
On a somewhat related note, I can see it already. You spend years carefully programming your AI, calculating it’s friendliness, making sure it is perfectly bayesian and perfectly honest. You are finally done. You turn it on and the first line it prints: Oh dear, you are quite ugly.
That statement obviously only applies when there is falsehood to be destroyed. I’m sure that guy knows he is not especially pretty. Telling him he’s ugly may be truthful but it’s also kind of like yelling “You’re really hot” at the sun.
If I were badly disfigured I would much prefer people saying that to my face than babbling off a lie. I would even prefer it to silence. If I’m talking to someone and they say nothing of my appearance I’m sure I could tell that they were at least thinking about it. I would much prefer that they think about it out loud than “behind my back” in their head.
Plus, my experience has always been that mutual insults are a great way for people to become friends. Maybe it’s the “civilized” version of play fighting that many animals (and human kids) engage in.
Beware of hypotheticals.
Would you also prefer it to talking about something relevant, like whatever you happened to be meeting about?
“Hi, I’m Amy. Nice to meet you. Now to get right down to business, let’s look at this chart...”
“Hi, I’m Amy. Nice to meet you. Man, you’re ugly...
In most cases, there’s nothing to be gained by #2.