It is therefore better to teach tribe members that “the sun is the eye of a giant frog that each day leaps across the sky,” since few foreigners - however intelligent - are likely to hit upon this particular idea independently. For if I encounter somebody in the jungle and that person tells me that the sun rises in the east, it might indicate that she is a loyal member of our tribe, but it might just as well indicate that she is an intelligent foreigner who reached the same conclusion independently of our tribe. Suppose we teach our tribal members to believe that “the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.” That makes for a very poor tribal myth. Consequently if we want to distinguish our tribe from foreigners, a fictional story will serve as a far better identity marker than a true story. First, whereas the truth is universal, fictions tend to be local. When it comes to uniting people around a common story, fiction actually enjoys three inherent advantages over the truth. No rabbit would have been willing to crash an airplane into the World Trade Center in the hope of being rewarded with 72 virgin rabbits in the afterlife. On the other hand, rabbits don’t believe in the mythological fantasies and ideological absurdities that have mesmerized countless humans for thousands of years. Rabbits don’t know that E=MC², that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old and that DNA is made of cytosine, guanine, adenine and thymine. We are both the smartest and the most gullible inhabitants of planet Earth. The dual nature of power and truth results in the curious fact that we humans know many more truths than any other animal, but we also believe in much more nonsense. You can unite millions of people by making them believe in completely fictional stories about God, about race or about economics. And large-scale cooperation depends on believing common stories. Planet Earth was conquered by Homo sapiens rather than by chimpanzees or elephants, because we are the only mammals that can cooperate in very large numbers. Building atom bombs requires not just a good understanding of physics, but also the coordinated labor of millions of humans. On the other hand, power also means having the ability to manipulate human beliefs, thereby getting lots of people to cooperate effectively.
If you believe a false physical theory, you won’t be able to build an atom bomb. This kind of power is closely tied to truth. On the one hand, power means having the ability to manipulate objective realities: to hunt animals, to construct bridges, to cure diseases, to build atom bombs. In fact, truth and power have a far more complicated relationship, because in human society, power means two very different things. Unfortunately, this is just a comforting myth.
Hence sticking with the truth is the best strategy for gaining power. If some leaders, religions or ideologies misrepresent reality, they will eventually lose to more clearsighted rivals. Many people believe that truth conveys power.
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