Page 70 - SurprisingTruthFinal

The Surprising Truth About Lying
“The infrastructure is coasting on autopilot,” Lina
reported, looking up from her stack of compromised
server parts. “The automated systems still work, but
nobody is making decisions. Every transaction requires
an admitted, 98% risk of failure, and nobody is brave
enough to take it. We won the war on lies, but we
started a war on risk, and that’s a war against action
itself.”
Vincent stared out a broken window at a
playground where children sat immobile, their games
stopped mid-action. “The law demands absolute
honesty. But honesty is a knife. You can’t build a house
with a knife, and you certainly can’t raise a family with
one.”
The functional paralysis was bad, but Henry was
haunted by the emotional collapse. The Truth Law had
applied not just to corporations, but to every civic
gathering, every life partnership, and every family
unit. If you held a public position, or even a social
position, like ‘friend’ or ‘spouse’, you were obliged to
speak the absolute truth when questioned about your
feelings or intentions.
Henry left the center and walked through the dim
streets to witness the fallout firsthand. He was drawn,
like a gawker at a crash site, to a small, brightly lit
70