Just watched Bones. really good to see that some of the stuff that seemed off had an explanation.

you know, I'd watch a show called Hogins and friends in the lab

There's apparently an on-line course you can take to learn to recognize micro-expressions pretty reliably that only takes an hour or so, but once you learn, you can't turn it off. I'm glad someone out there is figuring this stuff out, but I'm also glad it's not me. Knowing what emotions people are hiding but not why they're feeling them or why they're hiding them seems like it would be enormously stressful.

It's like they say. It's not that hard to figure out that someone is lying, but why they are lying is the key.

Exactly. With the average person telling three lies in a ten-minute conversation, all that figuring out why would be exhausting.

now you are making me wonder if I lie without realizing I am lying.

I know I do. I am especially good at pretending I know why something happens. I come to my reason logically, but ith no facts. It is fun. As long as I remember I can't do that at the library.

With the average person telling three lies in a ten-minute conversation

Who are they conversing with? I just don't have those conversations--I must either skew the average, or save my lies up for conversations filled with untruths.

I don't know. I got that statistic off the website you linked to, I think.

Or I was lying.

Or maybe I'm lying now.

Eta: I can't find it, now, so there's no telling where I got it.

now you are making me wonder if I lie without realizing I am lying.

I really enjoy Lie to Me but I'm a little vexed by all the websites that are popping up screeching that they can teach you how to protect yourself from lying liers who lie. The vast majority of the people I work with believe the things they say even when they aren't speaking their truest minds.

The words are so much less important than the underlying, and often complex, reasons for saying them.

The character's superpower is ferreting out the truth. He uses his ability to detect lies to do it. That's what separates him from his protegée.

That's what separates him from his protegée.

Right. He doesn't seek the lie as an end result. I really appreciate that.

People, in my experience, get so caught up in feelings of betrayal and anger as permanent, that they don't give themselves the chance to make the experience actually mean anything useful.

That's the interesting, and subtle, irony of Lightman's obsession with the tapes of his mother. He keeps going back to reconfirm guilt rather than to grieve through the mistake. (it seems to me)

Obviously, he uses the experience as fuel for his other work, but the suffering he allows himself, he never seems to support in others.

you know, I'd watch a show called Hogins and friends in the lab

A gonzo Mr. Wizard show. I'd watch it too.

Re, Lie to Me: If they found a reliable way to read micro-expressions off of internet posts...whoa, THAT would be some scary terrain.