# Would an infallible lie detector be a boon or a curse for humanity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 21, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801 "2014-12-21T04:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/41 "2014-12-22T19:53:24Z")
IIRC that speech tool is not as far from reality as one could think. I think that I saw reports of insurance companies and the ones involved in security sometimes employing tools like that when people are being questioned. [Searching] Ah, here is one report: [http://gcn.com/articles/2014/03/18/voice-risk-analysis.aspx](http://gcn.com/articles/2014/03/18/voice-risk-analysis.aspx) > [@](#): > > One such voice examination tool, CVSA II manufactured by National Institute for Truth Verification, runs on a variety of platforms – including mobile devices. The company claims it even works whether the subject is face to face with an investigator or talking over the phone. It uses a microphone plugged into a computer to quantify and analyze frequency changes in the subject’s responses that indicate vocal stress. As the subject speaks, the computer displays each voice pattern and numbers it. At the end of the evaluation, an algorithm scores the results. > > But criminal investigations represent only the tip of the iceberg for an automated system that can flag human deception. Such technology could be invaluable in personnel screening, defense and homeland security, border control and airport security as well as for financial institutions, contact centers and insurance providers – in short, anywhere where human deception is a liability. > > The Department of Homeland Security’s National Center for Border Security and Immigration at the University of Arizona developed a screening system called the Automated Virtual Agent for Truth Assessments in Real-Time (AVATAR), which is designed to flag suspicious or anomalous behavior that warrants further investigation by a trained human agent in the field. So, not infallible now, but with more improvements the use of tools like those ones can grow and creep on us. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/42 "2014-12-22T19:53:56Z")
It would sure make job interviews awkward. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/43 "2014-12-22T23:05:44Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > It would sure make job interviews awkward. True, but if \*\*many \*\*applicants have done drugs or gotten fired or cheated or stolen or falsified timesheets, it might not seem so remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/44 "2014-12-23T00:34:00Z")
It would be a boon and I would force everyone who wants to hold public office to use it. Like, force them at gunpoint. No, I don’t care whatever other rights you think are violated in that. It is a worthy goal and better for the entire human race that the people in charge are not deceptive to its own people. That outweighs the tiny fraction of people who 1) run for office, and 2) decides that lying is better ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/45 "2014-12-23T01:24:17Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > It is a worthy goal and better for the entire human race that the people in charge are not deceptive to its own people. Politicians would be unable to gain support for almost any policy if they couldn’t prevaricate regarding how confident they were that the hoped for benefits would be achieved. This would make the current gridlock be looked back on fondly. [Consider:](http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/spring/george-washington-3.html) > [@](#): > > This is as good a place as any to confront the burning question of whether George Washington ever told a lie. He not only told lies, he lived them. Indeed, no small part of his genius as a political leader was his ability to convince everyone, himself included, that he was no politician. Washington’s capacity for self-deception did not end there. Painfully sensitive about his lack of formal education, he refused to write his war memoirs, telling an early biographer, “I had rather glide gently down the stream of life, leaving it to posterity to think and say what they please of me, than by any act of mine to have vanity or ostentation imputed to me.” > > This had a nice ring to it, but the fact remains that among Washington’s earliest acts upon returning home after the Revolution was to unearth youthful letter books and correct misspellings and faulty grammar. As for FDR, if he had been a truth-teller, I doubt I would be free, or even alive, to write this today. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/46 "2014-12-23T02:02:20Z")
[There’s always that one guy.](http://youtu.be/iFWK-r9B6QA) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/47 "2014-12-23T03:03:39Z")
Family courts would be all but out of business. I’ve spent over $50k trying to keep my child safe and not succeeding because my opponent is a facile and charming liar. I can not begin to tell you the intense yearning I feel at the thought of such a tool. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801/48 "2014-12-23T15:07:17Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Politicians would be unable to gain support for almost any policy if they couldn’t prevaricate regarding how confident they were that the hoped for benefits would be achieved. This would make the current gridlock be looked back on fondly. People will adjust to the new reality [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-an-infallible-lie-detector-be-a-boon-or-a-curse-for-humanity/707801.md?page=2)