Looking for the Lie

In "Looking for the Lie" Ms. Heinz discusses the anatomy of a lie, it's origins, ramifications, and the efforts of people and governments to discern the truth from a lie. The article was first printed in the New York Times, a newspaper with an extremely large and diverse audience. The author appeals to their desire for privacy. Several times she presents the thought experiment where all lies can be easily identified as if sirens will go off and claims that all of society would break down. I do not believe this could even be achieved fast enough that society would not find a way to adapt. I have also never really been a fan of this Michael Moore style sensationalism, however as with the aforementioned producer, deep down there is usually a valid point. Unfortunately modern American society often demands this type of pseudo-entertainment for news, otherwise they don't care. This is the only method to accomplish their goal of shining the spotlight of public attention onto their particular topic.

The main interest for the audience is their sense of privacy. I found it interesting that lies have been noted to be a milestone for the social development of a society, and that it is accompanied with the development of a child individualism.

The author discusses the use of the polygraph machine throughout history. The concerning part is that the lairs most easily missed are habitual, have nothing to lose, or have been trained to lie, and these are the dangerous lairs. The device is intended to measure the side effects of anxiety, assuming that telling a lie is stressful in some way. Newer technologies use mapping of brain activity to more accurately determine honesty from deception. A key issue is raised at this point, that the motivation for and development of a lie can be very different depending on the situation. This means that different brain activities can be associated with lying, and a certain amount of human interpretation will still be required. The brain mapping technology as a pure science could have great benefits to mankind, however this is one of the possible negative side-effects. An additional concern not raised by the author is that currently Functional MRI systems weigh 10-tons, only take a reading every 2 seconds and require the user to be strapped down, however I have already heard of people developing the technologies to make Functional MRI's that can be used at a distance, so a subject can be scanned while being interviewed without their knowledge or permission.

Other modern techniques use facial expressions to determine if people are lying. Both claim that initial responses of a reaction can be detected up to 200 ms after stimuli is applied, well before a decision is made. The author suggests that this could take away someone's free will, which can be very scary in a Minority Report kind of way. Even if one knows the future, it can be misinterpreted.

The statement that worried me the most was made by Andrew Ryan, the head of research at the Dodpi (Department of Defense Polygraph Institute). He stated that the development of science is his only concern, there is no regard for it's application, or "operational use." I believe that all scientists, and really everyone is responsible for what they create. Ask the scientists from the Manhattan project if they feel no responsibility.