Reading arguments at iidb.org again motivated me to post a topic. Poll is worded as Louis Theroux put it.

Truth, because it really is that big.

Rofl, nice!

If I lived all my life believing the lie is the truth, what's the difference? Noble ideas are all fine, but they don't keep your stomach full...

con't decide, hmmmm...... i'll go with truth.

Truth for 600, Alex.

i deas dont fill one's somic anyway, so why even bring it up?

truth for me

Truth.

And I might venture to inquire the specifics of your question. (i.e. why are you asking?)

*Sticks fingers in ears*

"LALALALALALALALALALALALALA"

Guess what I voted for?

I'd say truth because if you believe in a lie with a false sense of security, you can get hurt. At least with truth you can come prepared.

Whichever benefits me more.

I shall follow in the ways of Richard Cypher Rahl.

The quotes concerning reality/lies/truth in my quotes file:

• After learning the truth, does what is "real" matter, or is how we live our lives more important?
  
• I once wrote a story about a man who was injured and taken to a hospital. When they began surgery on him, they discovered that he was an android, not a human, but that he did not know it. They had to break the news to him. Almost at once, Mr. Garson Poole discovered that his reality consisted of punched tape passing from reel to reel in his chest. Fascinated, he began to fill in some of the punched holes and add new ones. Immediately his world changed. A flock of ducks flew through the room when he punched one new hole in the tape. Finally he cut the tape entirely, whereupon the world disappeared. (The Electric Ant, Philip K. Dick)
  
• If I control my reality tape, I control reality. At least so far as I am concerned.
  
• Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
  
• • Reality is just a point of view. -(Above three) Philip K. Dick
• You’re up against an adversary that has everything going for it except maybe the truth, and unfortunately that doesn’t count for much.

The SoT series really got me into truth and all that jazz. Terry Goodkind's writing is reall great.

You're all liars, you know you'd rather live in a happy fantasy world.

If I believe lies for a lifetime, would I ever know what "truth" is?

Hmm.

... if a bit naive from time to time. But I like it how the various characters are sometimes so ruthless. Based on the author's looks, that's no miracle

I'd rather be told the truth



Laura

Lies. I can't imagine a world without fake orgasms.

come on now kieran, I'm sure a woman with you wouldnt have to fake any orgasm :p

Laura

As Richard Pryor(sp?) said, "Women fake orgasms all the time. 'Oh, oh, oh, yes' Could you wait til I put it in?"

It's when blokes have to do it you've got problems

*shudder*

haha, <3 u, u rock.

ok ok goodness. well see she just wasnt clever in his case...still kieran u seem to be a level minded guy, i'm sure you could charm a woman and make sure she has a very good time;) :p


Laura

As long as she at least pretends, I'm fine. A world of lies for me.

*quoting Will farrell in ELF* "U sit on a throne of liessss" haha :p

Laura

I hate lying. I'm bruttally honest. Girl asks me how she looks. Unless I love her, I'm going to say she looks like crap when she looks like crap. Etc. I don't jump the bandwagon, I don't conform to other people to try to be nice, blah blah blah. I saw things how they are.
I will only lie if its going to be funny, or if it makes me life more convienant (In most cases. I'm arogant so somtimes I'm honest getting myself into alot of crap)

It's more important to be like that with someone you love!

Silly Person

Yea, then I'll be sleeping alone that night.. but maybe because what I said that would be a good thing....

Then quit being lazy and actually pleasure the woman, damnit!

Women must feel sorry for you if they're faking it.
And if you actually can't tell the difference... that's just sad. :p

When a woman is saying "Oh baby, oh baby, yeah, smack that ***" in monotone and filing her nails, is she faking?

You're doing great.
*Thumbs up*
Keep up the good work.

I already know the truth.

I know the month and year of the end of the world...

...do you know how hard it is to live life with that?

Still... I chose truth.

There is something special in watching the television... and watching all the ignorant people play their parts, not knowing that soon everything they do will be consumed by fire.

...

I would say the Truth, believing in an objective Truth to begin with. I don't think reality is relative, only what is percieved to be "real."

The truth is always good, in my belief, whether or not you want to deal with it is another matter. The lie is the complete absence of Truth, the Truth just is, even if you can't see it. Lies can never bring true happiness, only delusion.

But that's just me.

Let's say you were stranded on a desert island, would you rather know the truth, that you were going to die in 3 hours from a snake bite causing you immeasurable pain and cower in fear and terror of your impending doom, or would you rather spend your last 3 hours proving the strength of will of mankind in a brave attempt at survival and rescue?

Bah. That's simply not true. What is true happiness? True happiness is being happy, not anything more divine, not anything less. There isn't any source of universal truth that you can access to check if something is true or not. And because of that, the border between truth and delusion is a vague one indeed!

But I can tell you one thing: Many moments of happiness in this world have been shattered because of people's "righteous search for the ultimate truth". The only truths are scientific and mathematical truths, and they have little to do with human happiness.

To be honest, after a little thinking about this, surely in this instance your very perception of the world around you borders on your optimism (in order to lend itself to "hope"). Delusional or not (take the desert island example that Mikus mentioned) it's your own self-belief and "hoping" that determines your take/perspective of how you live your life, irrespective of whether you're going to die in 3 hours or attempt to stay alive for as long as possible...

It's not the chances we take, it's the choices we make that I feel determines our destinies; they shape us and makes us individuals who react differently according to a plethora of reasons. If you opted to live a life of ignorant bliss, how would you be aware of the truth even if it did occur? Equally, trying to "live" a life where you know what's going to happen (taking the stance that you can't change anything, otherwise we get into the whole changing destiny argument :p) brings both serious extremes of happiness and sadness. Thus, I can't help but feel that we need a little of both in our lives (if nothing else, just to keep us sane [or as close to it as some of us are going to get...] ;)) - we [mankind] ideally need "hope" to at least inspire us to continue and persevere - regardless of wherever there may be some truth in some lies, or some lies in some truths...



Just a couple of my pondering there, exposed for all the net to see...

-Jackpot

On a (somewhat tenuous) semi-related note, the character "Caliban" from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" is an excellent example of the "nature vs nurture" argument....

She's apparently bored, which proves my point.

Either that, or she's bad at multi-tasking. :p

The Truth shall make ye fret.

Like little kids and Santa Claus? (sorta)

Lies.

The truth is probably too terrible for me to sleep at night anyway, and I'll live a more noble and quiet life this way.