Systems require honesty to function. Without it, governance (whether of a machine or in life) is arguably impossible.

The first time I touched a computer I was around 7 or 8 years old, at school. I remember I was typing a letter on a text editor and I found it exceptional how the computer would do only what I ask it to do. Good and also bad. I was young but I could already see the machine is incapable of pretending. A computer doesn't think, it executes. Type wrong and it will do wrong. Type right and it will do right.

I saw, in this exact moment, the mirror of my own actions. From day one, I loved the brutal truth it gives you.

Later on, as an engineer, this statement always proved true. The machine doesn't lie. You can disagree with it, but it will do what you ask it to do. If a script fails, the error is yours. Then you learn, you fix, you become better. The computer isn't kind, it is true. Should you choose to hate it for it is your choice. Mine was to thank for the feedback and to continue learning.

Along the way, I learned patience and discipline. Patience to look for evidence, to questions my own assumptions. Discipline to challenge my ideas when I couldn't be intellecually honest with myself when I'd say "I know". The computer doesn't waste time on your beliefs or never try to make you feel good. It states facts. Take it or leave it.

What can we learn from this?

1. Cognitive dissonance, the gap

The choice to hide for a comfortable story

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological friction that occurs when reality doesn't match your beliefs. If the dissonance isn't resolved by changing the belief, it leaves the room for the consolidation of a wrong belief, hence taking more distance from the truth.

In french there is a saying: "Je n'ai qu'un son de cloche" which means "I only have one sound of a bell". It means that you only have one side of the story. A lie thrives in this environment. It exploits cognitive biases like a 0-day vulnerability. If you don't know the mechanics of how a system (or a person) actually behaves, you will accept any simplified narrative that "feels" right. Including your own lies.

This is the beginning of a dependency on lies to feel good. It often manifests as a rejection of the information while looking for a social support or by trying to convince others. A way to bypass the objective proof while creating a social context to feel better.

2. Cognitive load, the debt and the cost

Lying requires significant cognitive energy. It is a high-interest debt that lives in the background. The lie needs to be maintained, retold, justified. It is a burden.

The truth is stateless, it can sit here and even be forgotten. In such a case, it is still true and retriving the evidence is the only cost.

3. Better human connections

Being true removes the social mask. It allows to be vulnerable and to build trust with others. There is no need to be slick and perfect all the time. It only creates a false sense of security.

I have always maintained that as long as I have the truth, I can handle any situation in the best interest of everyone involved. The moment the truth is obscured is the moment the system breaks. I do not blame a person for a difficult truth, because that truth is the first component of the solution.

4. Truth is timeless

In engineering, a fact discovered in a log file five years ago is still a fact today. In life, truth acts as a fixed point of reference. When you build a strategy on truth, you are building on a foundation that doesn't expire. Somehow making it a long-term asset for an individual or organization.

I see a lie as a temporary fix that will cost you more in the long run. We often hear "a lie takes the lift, the truth takes the stairs". The fact is a lie expires as soon as the context changes. And it will change. The truth is set.

A method for integrity

1. In case of doubt, no doubt

Evidence over beliefs

Believing is easy, it requires zero effort. Knowing is hard, it requires verification, focus, and the willingness to be wrong.

Look for facts, go to the source. It can take time at first but it worth it. Don't believe me on that, practice it and you'll see.

In engineering, this means to read logs, read metrics, read code, identify the chain of events. If you can't find the answer, you can't justify your claim. When someone lacks the literacy of a situation they are forced to rely on belief.

In the daily life, look for the source, ask questions to relevant people, learn and challenge your assumptions. Even the comfortable ones.

Collecting evidence is key. It helps us to stick with facts and reality. Knowing facts allows better decision making.

2. Encourage autonomy through transparency

When we decide that finding the source is "too much of a hassle", we delegate our knowledge to a third party. The good thing about an evidence is that it is objective. It doesn't need someone to maintain it. It is here, for everyone to see. Therefore, it offers a shared truth that can be consulted autonomously, without bottleneck or constant monitoring. No gatekeepers to interpret it.

Keeping a documentation up to date is a way to keep the system honest.

Prepare for the real world

Accepting the truth can be uncomfortable because it requires us to watch ourselves in the mirror, without the filter of the "intentions". Sometimes it demands to fight our common sense. But what is common sense after all? It is just a set of beliefs that have been repeated so many times that we accept them as truth. It's a "sense" not a "fact". We should be willing to debug our own narrative too. The alternative often leads to a system failure. Whether it is a software or a human social system.

The approach is the same: clear honesty and integrity. Simply refuse to have an opinion on something you haven't bothered to investigate.

The real world will always offer paths of least resistance paved with "polite" lies or convenient omissions and the mental peace of simplifications. But for those who value system integrity, the choice is binary.

We must treat feedback like a computer treats code. Not as a personal attack, but as data. By reducing the gap between what is and what we say, we stop delegating our reality to others. Is it my way to be a better engineer? One of them, yes. Is it my way to be a better person? I don't know but this is a way to make better choices, yes.