群体寻求共识，个人寻求真理Groups Search for Consensus, Individuals Search for Truth
Naval：所谓"被认为是真的"，是各方争夺的焦点。个体追求真相，但群体追求共识——而社会是最大的群体。所以我们遇到的最大问题是：社会想要的，未必是对你好的。
即使聪明人也会屈从于社会的谎言
即使是聪明、有批判性思维的人，也会屈从于社会的许多"真理"，尽管他们内心深处知道那些是谎言。
举个简单的例子："金钱不会让你幸福"是社会的真理，却不是个体的真理。看看那些拼命赚钱的人吧。他们知道金钱能消除许多不幸福的来源，让他们达到幸福掌握在自己手中的境地。幸福成了他们自己的选择，而不是被外部力量强加的。
这只是社会告诉你的众多谎言之一。
社会的另一个谎言是：你把孩子送去学校是为了接受教育。事实上，他们每天只接受一个小时的教育，其余时间都在被灌输。教学进度按最慢的学生来定，教的科目大多无关紧要或早已过时。
学校是少量教育、大量社会化与服从训练、以及巨量看管服务的结合体——这对无法在家照看孩子的父母来说确实有帮助。它也让年轻的捣蛋鬼不至于流落街头。
学校做了很多事，但教育只是其中微不足道的一小部分。在家上学的数据清楚地证明了这一点，就连非学校教育的数据也开始印证这一点。
内疚，是社会在训练你当自己的看守
社会不只是对你撒谎。它还对你进行编程，让你在违反它某条"真理"时自我折磨。内疚就是社会对你如此成功的编程，让你成为自己的看守。内疚是社会在你脑海里说话的声音。
追求真相是件艰难的事。你基本上必须怀着深刻的信念，去理解那些被编程设定为误解的东西。
Naval: What’s considered to be true is fought over. Individuals search for truth but groups search for consensus—and society is the largest group. So the biggest problem we run into is this: What society wants for you is not always what’s good for you.
Even smart people go along with society’s lies
Even smart, critical thinkers go along with many of society’s truths, knowing deep down they are lies.
Here’s a simple example: “Money won’t make you happy” is a social truth, but it’s not an individual truth. Look at all the individuals trying to make money. They know money can remove a lot of sources of unhappiness and get them to a point where happiness is under their control. It becomes their choice, as opposed to being inflicted upon them by external forces.
That is just one of many lies society tells you.
Another one of society’s lies is that you send your kids to school for education. In fact, they get an hour of education a day and indoctrination the rest of the time. They’re taught at the speed of the slowest student, and they’re mostly taught subjects that are irrelevant or obsolete.
School is a combination of a bit of education, large doses of socialization and compliance training, and a massive dose of babysitting—which is helpful for parents who can’t take care of their kids at home. It also keeps young troublemakers off the street.
School does a lot of things, but education is just a tiny piece of it. Homeschooling stats clearly show this, and even unschooling stats are starting to show it.
Guilt is society training you to be your own warden
Society does not just lie to you. It programs you to beat yourself up when you transgress one of its truths. Guilt is society programming you so effectively that you become your own warden. Guilt is society’s voice speaking in your head.
Truth-seeking is a hard business. You essentially have to understand, with deep conviction, things that you’ve been programmed to misunderstand.