Truth Telling

Voice 1

Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Roger Basick.

Voice 2

And I’m Marina Santee. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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Voice 3

‘I bought poison. I met him at McDonalds.’

Voice 1

A police station in Pune, India. Officers are investigating a murder. They believe that Aditi Sharma gave poison to her former boyfriend – and killed him. An officer reads out some statements. They describe how the police think the murder happened. They have placed a special covering on her head. There are 32 electrodes attached to it. These electrodes carry electrical messages from the brain to the machine. But Aditi does not say anything. She does not need to. The machine shows how Aditi’s brain reacts. It is ‘reading’ her brain.

Voice 2

Today’s Spotlight is on telling the truth. Can technology force people to tell the truth? Is it possible to never lie at all?

Voice 1

In June 2008, Aditi Sharma was found guilty of murdering her former boyfriend Udit Bharati. It was the first time in the world that brain-reading technology had been used as evidence in a trial.

Voice 2

The machine showed that Aditi remembered the events of the murder. The judge decided that meant that Aditi must have been involved in the murder. But not everyone thought the judge was right to trust the brain-reading machine. Scientists in India did not agree that the machine always produced the correct results.

Voice 1

India is not the only place that has brain-reading machines. Some groups in the United States also use similar technology. But these machines work in a different way. The machines measure how blood flows through the brain. A person answers questions while an expert watches the machine. The machine shows which parts of the brain the person is using. So experts can work out if the person was lying or telling the truth. People who have been accused of lying can pay to use the machine. It can help to show if the person is being honest. But unlike in India, these results are not yet useable in U.S. courts.

Voice 2

Truth-telling machines sound like something out of a story book about the future. In fact, many writers have written about similar machines. In 1996, James Halperin wrote a science fiction book called ‘The Truth Machine’. It described a machine that shows if people are telling the truth. Halperin is surprised at how quickly his ideas about the future have become true. He spoke to the website, Reason Online, about brain-reading technology. He said,

Voice 4

‘It is happening much faster than I thought it would. I was talking about the idea of a truth machine back in the 1990s. I had a friend who was a brain scientist. He told me that it would take fifty years, if ever, before such a thing could be created. I chose the year 2024 as the date. This was so the idea would not seem too impossible.’

Voice 1

Some people are now worried about the use of brain-reading technology. They say that using such a machine would be morally wrong. They say people’s thoughts should be their own. It should not be legal for anyone to read the thoughts and memories of other people. This could affect a person’s basic freedom. However, other people say that the technology could be used in good ways. The machine could stop criminals from lying to police. It could also mean that no one will ever be tortured again.

Voice 2

The technology is still not completely established. Many experts still think it needs better testing before it can be used for important matters. But what if this machine was used more and more? What would the world be like if we could force everyone to tell truth? Would the world be a better place? Or would a truth machine create too many problems?

Voice 1

Most people believe it is generally wrong to lie. Many religions also teach this. For example, the Christian Bible includes the command “Do not lie about other people”. Some of the world’s greatest thinkers, or philosophers, have also written about lying. One of these philosophers was Immanuel Kant. He lived in Germany in the eighteenth century. He said that lying was always morally wrong. He believed that actions were only good if these actions could work as a law for everyone. But lying went against this. He said if everyone lied all the time, then life would become extremely difficult.

Voice 2

Another philosopher who wrote about lying was Saint Augustine. He was a Christian teacher who in the fourth century wrote a book called “On Lying.” He said,

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‘It seems to me that every lie is wrong. However, there are different kinds of lies. These depend on the reason and subject of the lie. Someone may lie to try and be helpful. He does not do wrong as much as someone who lies to be evil.’

Voice 1

However, in some situations, it is difficult to avoid telling lies. For example, someone prepares a meal for you. But you do not like it! Is it right to lie to that person? Or will it just hurt their feelings for no reason? One man who faced this issue is Cathal Morrow. In 2008, he decided not to lie for a whole year. He wanted to experience the issues created when someone only told the truth. Cathal Morrow is British but lives with his family in Spain. He finished his truth-telling program in 2009. Before he started the project, he said,

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‘Lying just gets easier. Once you open the door, there seems little reason to close it. Thinking about it, I suppose I do lie a little. But I only tell an acceptable number of small lies. I often tell people what I think they would like to hear. This is instead of what I truly think. Do I lie to be liked? To be nice? Because it is easy?’

Voice 2

Cathal Morrow wrote a book about his year of truth-telling.  For most people, never lying is just too difficult. But for many philosophers and religious leaders, these questions about truth and lies are very important. As Cathal Morrow said, it is easy to open the door to lies. But it is much more difficult to close it again.

Voice 1

Do you prefer people who tell you the truth? How often do you find yourself lying because it is easier than telling others the truth? Tell us what you think. You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and X. You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.

Voice 2

The writer of this program was from the Spotlight Team. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called, ‘Truth Telling’.

Voice 1

We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.

Question:  

Do you prefer people who tell you the truth? How often do you find yourself lying because it is easier than telling others the truth?