“The Lie Detector” by Lewis Thomas

In the essay “The Lie Detector” by Lewis Thomas there are things that I disagree with the author; for example, the lie detector doesn’t work all the time, so it’s not very accurate. Most of the time the Lie detectors are used in courts and for important reasons such as dealing with guilty people; If a people is being look at for guiltiness this mean that we can be dealing with people who are dangerous and know how to get around the law and is good at lying and controlling their guiltiness; therefore, they can prepare for the test and pass it. In my opinion, if you are strong enough to commit murder and not feel guilt or deny what you have done; therefore, you are strong enough to lie to a machine and control your heart beat and emotions. I think that we should not make our final decision weather a person is guilty by a lie detector because a murder can control his emotions and be let out while an innocent people can get so nervous and be found guilty and spent unfair years in jail; therefore, lie detectors shouldn’t be the final evidence to find someone guilty.

Also, I believe that lying is not always the wrong thing to do. Since I was a child people always told me that lying no matter what is wrong, but I don’t think that is true. I think that lying could be wrong if you lie about something you did wrong or taking credit for things you don’t deserve, or lying to fake who you are. For instance, my boyfriend telling me his going to his uncle house when he is going to the movies. For me, those lies are horrible even if they are small because you get use to lying and also the other person loses trust for you. Trust is one the hardest thing to gain from someone and as easily as one tiny lie could change it all. Now I think that sometimes people should lie about silly things because if you don’t you could hurt someone feelings, and sometimes you need to lie to protect someone. An example of how I think lying should be right is if my grandmother ask me if I like her food and I don’t I am not going to hurt her feeling telling her the food is horrible, so I lie and tell her that I loved it. I mean those lies won’t hurt anyone and even make people feel better, so I think that lies that have no hurtful are good lies and should be use every now and then.

I agree with the author “lying is stressful, even when we do it for protection, or relief, or escape, or profit, or just for pure pleasure of lying and getting away from it”. If you don’t lie a lot then it can be very stress because your heart will start beating faster and your hand will start to sweat because you wouldn’t know what to say and then you might also feel guilty. In the other hand, if you lie a lot then you can get so use to your lies that you will start to believe them yourself.

Overall, lie detectors work most of the time but nothing is for sure. If they discover you are lying they are going to know you lied but they won’t know the reasons or how you feel; therefore, in my opinion it could be really useless. The best way to know the truth is by trust and being honest.