When a notable such as Fareed Zakaria gets caught cheating, we wonder. When the Olympics is noted for cheating, we wonder. When every bank seems to be fudging the rules, we wonder.

Do we then cheat ourselves? The Observer takes a look at the rise of cheating:

http://observer.com/2012/08/our-cheating-hearts-honor-integrity-and-playing-by-the-rules-are-all-out-of-style/?show=all

I post a serious topic like this and no one responds. So I post snarky remarks about Julia Child, Anderson Cooper and Helen brown and i get all kinds of responses. What does that say about what interests folks here?

Do you really agree with the premise that the issue of cheating is getting more prevalent now than before? Thinnin' on just this country's history, cheating has a pretty long pedigree. Jefferson's planting anti-Adams smears anonymously -- actually pseudonymously -- in the press during their contest for the presidency, just to snag one easy example.

Or the famously over-cited instance of Socrates bemoaning the decline of the youth of his day.

These master-narrative kinds of historical diagnoses frequently seem to leak out a lot of their purported content once a little bit of scrutiny is turned. The postmodern condition and all that. Which I pretty much buy into.

(I was too late to suck Foucault's cock and now I see I have missed my chance with Lyotard as well. Eh bien. He who hesitates...)

(And I would not give Derrida the pleasure!)

(Now, Umberto Eco we could talk about... )

I'm with Adam Smith on this one (no, not on sucking Foucault, Lyotard or Eco). How does one measure a rise in cheating if one doesn't know what the baseline was? Like "crime," "cheating" first needs to be defined carefully, and then one has to know how reliable the instruments are that are used to measure it. Perhaps it is simply easier to catch traditional kinds of cheating now that everyone has access to so much more information. Were people less inclined to have sex outside marriage in the past, or did the transgressions just become more obvious once their partners could check their careless email, cellphone records, Facebook pages, etc., and anyone could view candid photos taken by strangers with a cellphone and posted on the Internet?

For instance, when I taught, I had to depend on my finely tuned instinct to detect plagiarism or factual falsehoods in a research paper, but I often couldn't prove the cheating, even with extensive research of my own, and I saw examples that went undetected or unchallenged in papers presented to my colleagues. Now every professor has access to computer programs that automatically flag potential problems in papers, and other programs that find the sources or the correct facts. Students have become aware of this, so there may be even less cheating than there used to be.

Adam Smith: "Do you really agree with the premise that the issue of cheating is getting more prevalent now than before?"

I did not express an opinion.Note that I posed the title of the thread as a question. In my mind, that invited people to discuss the issue.

Just no pleasing you today, is there?

Now every professor has access to computer programs that automatically flag potential problems in papers, and other programs that find the sources or the correct facts. Students have become aware of this, so there may be even less cheating than there used to be.

Hmmm...so how long until there are programs for students that "flag potential problems in papers" and automatically suggest inoffensive alternative wordings as workarounds?

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Back on topic, I suspect humans are genetically programed to a certain degree of self-seeking behavior. Not saying we're demonic; we appear to be a good bit more inclined toward amiability and altruism than our cousins the chimps, but we're no angels either. I doubt there has been much drift in the gene pool in the last couple of generations so I doubt we're any worse (or better) than we were 50 years ago.

I have pondered this all day and have come to the conclusion that I cheat just as much today as I did 30 years ago. I don't think it is on the rise. I have gotten a bit better at it over the years.

I have been lucky to always catch the ex's cheating but none ever caught me.

Ask Anderson Cooper........

Ask Anderson Cooper........

That is not fair. You know he was upset something was on the rise and it wasn't in his bedroom! (didn't you see the photo?)

Just no pleasing you today, is there?

Your stated intention is to upset me. Yet there is nothing in my explanation other than facts which show that you have misinterpreted my thread. I suggest that you find someone else to annoy.