大象传媒

Lying is something almost all humans do. We find it in every culture around the world. We find it in the world of work, in our relationships, and online. It鈥檚 everywhere. And something we鈥檝e all had to learn to navigate at some point in time.

Our question this week is from listener, Anthony, from Cambodia, who asks us why we lie, and how conscious are we of the lies that we tell? Crowdscience鈥檚 Caroline Steel is in the hot seat this week, trying to untangle the slippery slope behind lying.

It鈥檚 a subject scientists and psychologists have been trying to study for a long time, but we鈥檙e only really starting to get to grips with how it works as a human behaviour. And that鈥檚 despite lying being something that writers, philosophers, and theologists have been reading and interpreting in writing and culture for thousands of years.

It鈥檚 a story that will take us to meet the world鈥檚 second best liar, as crowned at the West Virginia Biggest Liar competition. We鈥檒l meet a comedian who鈥檚 proud of Dutch honesty. An academic whose studied thousands of children鈥檚 brains to understand when we first start learning to lie as a behaviour. And learn about new research using fMRi has been helping to show us how lying can be a slippery slope, as the more we do it, the less our brain reacts telling us not to.

This episode is also a chance to consider how lying has changed as a behaviour as our lives have become more online. We look at how conspiracy theories swell around supporting unverified information. And how social media has made it harder to tell the difference between lies and truth.

And then the big question. What would the world look like without lies? We ask our guests what they think the answer would be.

Presenter: Caroline Steel