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Comment by jsmcgd | Hacker News Reader

Personally I would argue that the purpose of language is communication without any particular prominence placed on manipulation. The laws expressly forbids deception so I would also argue that manipulation is at the core of fraudulent behaviour and that mutual benefit is at the core of a free market.

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The 'free' part of the free market means each actor is allowed to work for their own best interest. To convince others to act in a way that's beneficial to oneself is at least an important purpose of language. Mutual benefit is an accidental result of SOME forms of market.

Do you realise you've just said that no one can trust anything you say to them, because they can never be sure if you're misleading them for your personal benefit?

No, I've said that folks communicate AT ALL because it helps them. "Where do you want to go for lunch?" is a loaded question, designed to get food and company. The point is, the OP was making foolish claims that there's something wrong with this.

A 'free' market supposes that the consumer has all the available information he needs to make the most rational choice for his own best interest. Deception of the consumer is not a primary part of the (mostly theoretical) free markets.

That is why laws exist to protect the consumer from provider deception. The question, related to this topic, is just how manipulative are you able to be before you are being deceptive?

Don't know where you got that. The 'free' part of free market means the seller can set their price any way they wish - the market prices are not set by any authority. In such a market "let the buyer beware" is the norm. The information available to the consumer is another issue entirely, and no assumption of perfect knowledge is assumed.

Well, social communication. And deception and manipulation are surely a part of human social communication, not least child rearing.

I disagree. The primary purpose of language is to help one give form to their thoughts. Communication is secondary to this.

I tend to think in pictures. Those are form to my thoughts. On the other hand, I can't really tell you about things that are in my head without words (but diagrams really help me get my point across and understand your point).

The primary purpose of language is to facilitate social communication in primates.

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