Your leader and article about the emerging mind-reading technology boggle the mind (“The Terrible Truth” and “Mind-Goggling,” October 29, 2011). For lying is indeed not only at the heart of civilization, as you say in the leader, but at the heart of the human species. Well, even our direct ancestors, the chimpanzees, are consummate cheats, too. Be afraid, you counsel. As you report in the article, mind-reading technology is still crude, but it has made huge advances as of late. The technology already in place can even detect what people are dreaming or thinking about, reasonable images included. Not to worry, though. Lying is too important to our species to be challenged so easily. As many anthropologists have long suspected, lying to others without being detected and detecting lies by others is at the very roots of human intelligence. Soon enough we will learn to lie even in our dreams, let alone our waking thoughts. And the simplest way to do this is to lie by telling the truth, at least by the standards of mind-reading technology. Honestly, the truth is the most malleable of concepts, anyhow.