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Dishonesty. Fibbing. Telling an untruth. Purposeful distortion. Misleading. Gilding the lily. Deception. These are all synonyms for the same thing: lying.

In her classic talk from TEDGlobal 2011, “How to Spot a Liar,” Pamela Meyer outlines what she believes to be an epidemic and gives practical tips for how anyone can tell when someone is laying a whopper on them. Today’s TEDWeekends on the Huffington Post spins off from Meyer’s talk, delving into the topic of “Understanding deception.”

To the left, a visualization of the murky waters between truth, lies, understatements, exaggerations, concealments and equivocations. And below, some TEDWeekends essays that riff on the theme.

Pamela Myer: How to spot a liar

Lying: Even t-shirts know how bad it is.

The other day a guy walked past me wearing a t-shirt with two words on it: “Everybody lies.” It made me laugh.

Of course it’s true. We all lie, but mostly in harmless or benign ways. Like telling your husband you don’t mind if he watches football. Like telling your wife you like her new haircut when it’s too short. What’s the point in telling the truth? Her hair will take months to grow back anyway. Why cause a tidal wave of tears?

But our deception epidemic is not all cute, funny, and kind.

Read the full essay >>

Paul Spector: Let’s be honest, we’re all liars

Pamela Myers begins her TEDTalk on deception with an accusation that might start a fight with a different audience. “You are all liars.” I’d like to unwrap this idea in order to examine two areas. The first maps the broad spectrum of lies, from the socially sanctioned and the self-deceiving to the conscious intent to mislead. The second area pertains to the lying animal, homo mendax, us humans. Recent discoveries in how the brain edits reality are radically changing the view of our relationship to truth.

If you had to explain our understanding of honesty to an alien, it might prove quite difficult.

            Read the full piece >>

Dana Radcliffe: The cost of deceptive politics

At the heart of our ad-saturated democratic process is a moral paradox. Politicians raise and spend billions of dollars to convince us to trust them with the responsibility of governing us. But (as I argued in an earlier post) the fevered competition for votes virtually compels them to lie to us. Because lying inevitably undermines trust, including citizens’ trust in their leaders and in government generally, we have cause to worry about the increasing dishonesty of political campaigns. For leaders distrusted by their constituents cannot hope to unify them behind efforts to tackle the urgent problems afflicting our communities, states, and nation.

As this year’s elections proved, when today’s consultant-driven campaigns fixate on the likely “effectiveness” of their messages, accuracy is a secondary concern.

Read the full essay>>

Graphic: Designed by Pop Chart Lab

Happiness seems simple, yet the more we look into it, the more layers and complexities we find. Here are five TEDTalks that will transform how you view happiness, and how to achieve it.

1) Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel truly happy even when things don’t go as planned.

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2) Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our “experiencing selves” and our “remembering selves” perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy — and our own self-awareness.

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3) Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, “What makes a life worth living?” Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of “flow.”

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4) Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz’s estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

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5) Martin Seligman talks about psychology — as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become?

We’re welcoming two guest hosts to TEDGlobal 2011 — Pat Mitchell, from the Paley Center for Media, who hosts Session 8, and Matt Ridley, whose 2010 TEDTalk was memorably titled “When Ideas Have Sex,” and who’ll be hosting Session 5. We asked both hosts a few questions about their plans for their session of TED. Here’s what we asked Pat Mitchell:

What drew you to this theme: “Embracing Otherness”? How are you defining “other” in the context of TEDGlobal?

One of the TED talks at TEDWomen in December was titled “Otherness” and the speaker, Elizabeth Lesser, spoke about how we tend to ‘otherize’ people who don’t look like us, think like us, believe as we do, worship as we do, etc. I was struck by the power of the concept of ‘otherness’ — and of course, we see how it plays how in our lives on so many levels … from bullying in school to waging acts of terrorism. We fear the ‘other,’ we demonize the ‘other,’ and the outcomes of this are certainly anything other than positive. So I thought about ‘embracing’ otherness’ is the way to start to bridge the lack of understanding, the miscommunications, the demonizing that results from fear and intolerance of what’s lies outside our comfort or knowledge zones. So at TEDGlobal, the speakers will talk about the embracing the otherness of poverty, revolution, culture, backgrounds and sharing their own stories of being ‘other’ or witnessing ‘other’ or helping to bridge from one othernesss to another.

Can you share your special instructions to your speakers — what are you asking them to bring to this session in particular?

I am very pleased that each of the speakers in my session is from a different country and culture: India, Yemin, Ghana, China, UK … and each of them was asked to talk about a different kind of otherness: Bunker Roy talks about the other side of poverty; Jarreth Merz bears witness to the other ways that democracy can work and survive in his country of Ghana; Yang Lan shares stories of the other side of China, its youth and its women, and Nadia Al-Sakkaf will bring front line reports of the other side of the revolution and conflict in Yemin, and actor Thandie Newton shares her personal ‘otherness’ story of growing up with multi identities and cultural influences as an actor, always ‘engaging otherness.’

It’s interesting that several of your speakers work in media — two journalists, a filmmaker, an actor. Do you find that people working in media perceive themselves as “the other,” or is it more a case of media people being sharper observers of otherness?

I think journalists and filmmakers are keen observers. And actors must also be sharp observers as they draw their characters and their stories from what they experience around them. After all, that is what actors, filmmakers, journalists are trained to be: observers. And then they do something with their observations. They put them into films, stories, roles. So it’s probably no accident that among the speakers on this subject are such professionals. I wanted these stories of how to engage otherness to be practical, to be real and to come from experiences and not from some sociological theory or construct.

Is there an inspiration or a lesson from TEDWomen that will inform your work at TEDGlobal?

Everything I heard at TEDWomen and everything I learned in the process of putting together the global gathering of women and men informs and inspires me constantly … on so many levels and in so many ways. I was surprised by how many ideas worth spreading were heard from the TEDWomen stage, and I’ve been so inspired to watch the conversations and dialogues that have been generated by some of the talks online. And I’m truly proud of the fact that there were speakers and subjects and sessions that had very little to do with being a woman or a man, but everything to do with the individual speaker’s idea or work that was somehow further strengthened or illuminated by talking about it in an environment where the narrative was focused and the community was engaged and receptive. There was a strong sense of community at TEDWomen, as there always is at TED conference, but this one was unique because the invitation was specific to a community of interests and as a result, there is a strong call to convene the community again which I hope we will be doing this year … and going forward.

Anderson thinks web video represents a fundamental shift … the potential of which is unimaginable.

”There is something mysterious, magical and incredibly powerful when a group of humans watch another human teaching or speaking,” he says. ”They see things that the text alone can’t convey. And for the first time in history, that kind of communication can scale from one human to millions.”

Read the story and watch the video here >>

Here are some other highlights:

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Sean Carroll: Our brains did not evolve to study physics or cosmology; yet, we’re doing a very good job.

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Sean Carroll: Interestingly, it’s very possible for two universes to bump into each other without creating much fuss. That’s because chances are that one universe is much, much bigger than the other one; the colliding universe would just show up as a hot spot in the bigger universe, which would eventually come to equilibrium with all the stuff around it. Cosmologists are actively looking for signs of such universes in the cosmic microwave background.

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Nafissa Yakubova: How does this knowledge about Universe and Time affect your everyday life? ( beyond your work)

As a space and time enthusiast, my layman knowledge about universe has a huge impact on how my mind works and how I live my daily life. I’m curious about how it’s for YOU as a pro physicist and cosmologist: could you please share how it affects your thinking, views and daily life?

Sean Carroll: I think it affects my everyday life quite a bit. When you fly to a physics conference, and you’re in the airport waiting to board, it’s usually not hard to pick out the other physicists. But I try to blend in to some extent.

Physics helps you think quantitatively about the world, understand hypothesis-testing, and get some feeling for the uncertain values of real-world measurements. All very useful skills!

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Andrew Cross: Sean, you stated that: “…empty space essentially lasts forever (but) since empty space gives off radiation there’s actually thermal fluctuations and it cycles around all the different possible combinations of the degrees of freedom that exists in empty space.”

Does this make life possible in the empty space era?

Sean Carroll: Yes, absolutely, at least in principle. Indeed, that’s the big question: if a model like this is right, why aren’t we random fluctuations in an otherwise empty space, rather than finding ourselves in a warm and inviting universe filled with stars and galaxies?

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Piotr Bulczak: Does that all mean that there is actually nothing like time? Is it just a our “feeling” of the changes around, states changes, fluctuations? Without any change around us would we be in present time time? Ok, just said there is no time in fact. :-)

Sean Carroll: I’m someone who believe that time really exists. Otherwise how would we know when to participate in the TED chat?

Watch Fiorenzo Omenetto’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 900+ TEDTalks.

Sam Richards, whose “Radical Experiment in Empathy” prompted a lively conversation all last week, sat in on TED Conversations today for two hours to answer questions about how to find empathy for people unlike us, and how we might prejudge someone — even a TED speaker … The conversation was thoughtful, honest and deeply optimistic. Thanks to all who took part! Check out some highlights below, and if you’re inspired to, feel free to post a new question — Richards will be checking back in to keep the conversation going.

Sam started the chat by asking “How does the presenter impact the reaction to a talk? So how might people’s reactions to my talk be different if I was retired military?”:

Bob Sampron: Sam, I think the way you phrased the question points to the role of irony in a presentation. When retired military talks about empathy, it’s similar rhetorically to an executioner calling for an end to the death penalty. A passivist is expected to advocate for empathy. A person who makes war his profession is not. Because the opinion is unexpected, it gives the remarks a special relevance in the audience’s mind. Whether it should or not is another story. Move

Sam Richards: I’m sure many people will disagree with my depiction of some soldiers as “social workers with guns,” but this is what I see so often. in fact, honestly, I teach many, many vets and ROTC cadets and have had close friends and family members from the military and I see again and again that people want to do good and often join the military to do good. “I wanted to stop the genocide in Somalia,” is what one student recently told me. This isn’t all people, of course, and trust me when I say that I’m totally aware of that. But I see soldiers with kind and soft hearts again and again.

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Sam Richards: Most people who have reacted negatively to this talk have said one of two things: 1. I’m a nutcase anti-American liberal academic (or some version of that :-) or, 2. This is elementary thinking — that the talk is meaningless because nobody should find themselves incapable of empathizing with Iraqis. Any thoughts on the second critique?

Laurie Mulvey: In answer to #2, Empathy (like other “soft skills” such as listening) seems like something we all do naturally and easily. My experience doing conflict resolution work for the past 15-20 years is that these are profoundly difficult things to do (and to even know how to do) in the moments when it’s most necessary. And that’s exactly why #1 occurred so often in response to your talk.

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Mark Meijer: Empathizing is easy. Empathizing when it matters is hard. There is such a thing as an amygdala hijack, which basically means that whenever we are overwhelmed by the emotional urge to react to something imminent, everything else goes right out the window. This includes reason and empathy. And one might be surprised how often this occurs.

Sam Richards: I like how you write “empathizing when it matters” here. Yes, like in our day-to-day lives — with our friends and spouses and children and parents. How is it so easy to feel empathy toward someone across the world from me and yet I have a difficult time feeling it with my neighbor?

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Debra Smith: I first saw you on TEDX youtube and I brought up your talk in two separate threads on TED conversations before you were a speaker on this site. One thread asked for great talks that no one had seen yet. I share that to indicate that I had absolutely no information about you or your expertise before I watched your talk for the first time. I was attracted by the title of the talk and I found your presentation to be compelling and persuasive. You do have a natural charisma but I feel that I evaluated it and loved the talk based on the merits of what you were saying. It was courageous and I thought quite controversial to take such a stance in the climate of the USA today. In hindsight, I would have been more shocked and impressed if you had been retired military because I would have surmised that you had a spirit of independent thought that had survived the indoctrination of the armed forces. Move

Sam Richards: So you simply went into the talk with an open mind and walked away with something from within that “open environment” that you created. Very cool.

The TED community is grieving the loss of Zoe Anderson, the 24-year-old daughter of TED Curator Chris Anderson. She died tragically of carbon monoxide poisoning on December 28, 2010. Chris has posted this beautiful tribute to Zoe’s life (including wonderful photos) and her many, many friends have created this Facebook Memorial for her.

A true TEDster, Zoe had attended the conference since 2004, and was an extraordinary polymath herself: She held an MsC in Neuroscience, was a scuba dive-master, a gifted painter and photographer… Also an adventurer, a ring-leader, and a devoted, beloved friend known for her incredible ability to bring people together and joyfully seize the moment. The name “Zoe” means life, and we’re not sure anyone has ever been better named… Zoe had an amazing joie de vivre, an irrepressible spirit. She was beautiful, brilliant, mischievous, luminous. A bright light and a muse. Chris called her his “beautiful, larger-than-life daughter.”

To keep Zoe’s unstoppable spirit alive, Chris and his family have created a fund to preserve a coral reef in her name. It’s a living tribute to her life, and to the underwater wonder that had captured her imagination.

Love and support have been flowing in from across the TED community these past two weeks, and Chris and his family are so grateful to feel this warm support from such an extended network. Our deepest gratitude to all of you for those sentiments — they mean the world — and our deepest sorrow for Chris and his family in the face of this terrible loss.

But we respect that some of you will need your TED fix during that time. A couple of suggestions:

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