I don't think this example helps much, because it's not that we don't know what an unpleasant truth feels like. Everyone knows what that feels like. The difference is in what comes next. Do we accept a painful truth or accept a happy lie? To me, rationalists like Sam Harris, and probably most programmers, truth wins over feelings by quite a long shot. A better way to understand the other side, is to realize that for a lot of people this isn't the case.
Here's a better example. If you were being cheated on, but this had no affect on your otherwise perfect relationship, would you want to know? What if it was a one time thing that your partner was extremely regretful about and would never happen again. What if you're in your tenth year of the relationship, the cheating occurred nine years ago, you currently share a mortgage and two children.
I would still answer yes, and you probably did too. But many people don't care about truth that much. And I don't necessarily think they should.
The pro-religion / anti-religious criticism crowd here seems much more vocal than the opposition as well. Both sides seem to have lost out to the Guns vs Pools debate in any case.
I'm not saying programmers are always right or rational. I'm saying they care more about truth and logical consistency. Or at least they care more about being the kind of person that cares about truth and logical consistency.
Let's say there was a box containing a piece of paper that has the answer to the question, "Does God exist?" or "Is my view on nutrition or pharmaceuticals correct?". The atheist and the programmer would almost certainly look inside that box even at considerable cost. Many religious people would not. Some people could save a lot of time if they realized that.
"Or at least they care more about being the kind of person that cares about truth and logical consistency."
I think this is the more true statement :)
I don't disagree with your premise, by the way, and maybe weird irrational opinions are rarer in engineering/sciency/computery people, but they're definitely there.
Here's a better example. If you were being cheated on, but this had no affect on your otherwise perfect relationship, would you want to know? What if it was a one time thing that your partner was extremely regretful about and would never happen again. What if you're in your tenth year of the relationship, the cheating occurred nine years ago, you currently share a mortgage and two children.
I would still answer yes, and you probably did too. But many people don't care about truth that much. And I don't necessarily think they should.