{"id":608585,"date":"2026-08-29T20:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608585\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T20:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:14:14","slug":"how-small-mistakes-might-sometimes-exhibit-good-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608585\/","title":{"rendered":"How Small Mistakes Might Sometimes Exhibit Good Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open-mindedness<\/a> is an important aspect of critical thinking, as the latter requires the consideration of multiple perspectives; however, it\u2019s also important to be sceptical<\/a>, particularly in situations where the evidence for a perspective is lacking (Dwyer et al., 2016). With respect to balance, the context of the situation should help guide how you engage these dispositions.<\/p>\n

The Viral Conspiracy Theory of 7 Seconds Without Gravity <\/p>\n

Almost a year ago, I started seeing rumours online that we would “lose gravity” for seven seconds at 2:33 p.m. GMT on August 12. Postulations suggested numerous potential causes, including black hole, eclipse, and experimentation activities. But, as most of these warnings suggested that “NASA knows about it,” it was also a conspiracy belief<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Of course, I was extremely sceptical. I set an alarm for it months in advance, not because I believed it, but because I wanted to be present-minded for the nonsense to be debunked. I wanted a laugh to myself at 2:33 p.m. on that day. I knew (because I did physics in school) that in light of the moon\u2019s orbit around us and the sun\u2019s pull on Earth, for gravity to cease, you\u2019d pretty much need to stop the planet and everything on it from having mass\u2014meaning I also knew that this was close to impossible. So, why then, on that day two weeks ago, at 2:32 p.m., did I actually consider organising my family at our staircase to hold on to the balusters for a few moments? <\/p>\n

The “Just in Case” Principle<\/p>\n

Why do you buy insurance? Just in case. Indeed, despite the lack of evidence to support this prediction, I was open-minded enough to concern myself with a what-if scenario, if for nothing more than an exercise in caution, in which case I would consider the potential for it happening and the weight of the outcome relative to the cost to me of being cautious. That is, we\u2019d only lose a minute or two of our lives, and I\u2019d just look silly in front of my wife. (My kids are too young to understand what we\u2019d be doing.) The mistake would not be costly. However, if the 0.00000000001 percent chance of this conspiracy belief being right came to fruition, at least we\u2019d be prepared to avoid potential serious injury when gravity returned. <\/p>\n

As we moved closer to the date, one of my favourite examples from teaching classes on epistemology and the nature of “proof”<\/a> kept coming to mind. We can\u2019t prove anything. Gravity is a theory. Take this pen for example. I know that when I release it from my hand, it will accelerate to the ground at 9.81 m\/s2. I\u2019d bet my house on it. What goes up must come down. We have observed this time and time again, without it being disproved (hence why it is a theory<\/a>). But that doesn\u2019t mean that one day, some massive asteroid can\u2019t hit Earth and somehow knock us off our axis, thus potentially messing up our gravity. That\u2019s why science is cautious. We cannot see into the future. We cannot prove, only disprove.<\/p>\n

With that, what if, as with some other conspiracy beliefs, certain points are partially true (Dwyer, 2025)? For example, what if we lost gravity or some other major disaster occurred at that time? It wouldn\u2019t have to be because of the silly examples the conspiracy theorists suggested, which were rather easily debunked, but because of something else. Practically, who cares about the what or why in this scenario, when it\u2019s the outcome that really matters? <\/p>\n

Open-Nindedness Versus Skepticism<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know everything. Science doesn\u2019t know everything. The public doesn\u2019t know everything. At 2:32 that day, the open-minded part of me suggested that maybe we could lose gravity for a reason that not a single person on Earth has ever considered before, and the one thing that was right was the date and time. Whereas the sceptic said, “Without any credible evidence, the same can be said about any date\/time\u2026”<\/p>\n

In my previous example, I said “betting my house on it” that gravity will work in terms of releasing the pen. That bet was still on back on August 12, because I certainly didn\u2019t increase my house insurance in advance. Had I somewhere to be, I wouldn\u2019t have thought twice about being out in the open air. But, as things turned out, I was at home. At 2:32, I got up from my desk in the office and went into the kitchen to be with my family to “make some coffee”… not because I believed something would happen (I didn\u2019t); rather, because of caution. I\u2019m not going to risk the safety of my family, no matter how small the odds, because of my pride (be it in science, scepticism, source credibility, etc.), when the cost of open-minded caution was so little. Again, caution, not belief.<\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019m prideful of science. But I also understand its strengths and “limitations.” Unfortunately, many people often get the notion of science wrong. Perhaps that\u2019s a reason why there has been increased distrust<\/a> in it over the past decade. (See my previous post on the “post-truth era.”)<\/a><\/p>\n

For example, a common complaint I hear from religious individuals, in an attempt to justify their faith, is that science arrogantly believes it knows everything. That\u2019s not the case. Scientists do not think they know everything, because, as Irish comedian Dara \u00d3 Briain once correctly joked, if they did, then science would just stop (i.e., what\u2019s the point of “sciencing” if we already know everything?). Scientists recognise and celebrate the many knowledge gaps that require filling. That\u2019s what makes science exciting\u2014the opportunity for discovering and learning new things, as well as advancing what we thought we already knew (e.g., again, disproving versus proving). <\/p>\n

We all get things wrong sometimes. Even the best thinkers, from time to time, make a decision based on their gut alone<\/a> and get it horribly wrong. When science gets something wrong, it\u2019s often because new, innovative research has facilitated us in learning more about the topic and adds to our knowledge base, thus “changing” it. Being wrong affords us new and better understanding. That\u2019s a good thing. We can learn from being wrong, in which case, the big mistake of being wrong would be not learning from it.<\/p>\n

Good Thinking Requires Both Caution and Critical Judgement<\/p>\n

A big mistake, personally, would have been me actually changing my insurance policy in light of this conspiracy belief. Of course, though, good thinking stops me from doing that, knowing I had no credible evidence to support the possibility of this event occurring (i.e., scepticism). I wasn\u2019t wrong about it, because I didn\u2019t believe it; but I did make “a mistake” out of caution (i.e., open-mindedness), in that I cost myself a minute or two of my life. But, at least I had a fresh cup of coffee out of it. It was a mistake I was happy to make\u2026just in case. <\/p>\n

Good thinking isn\u2019t about being wrong or right; it\u2019s about, as best possible, ensuring good decision-making, and caution is core to good decision-making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open-mindedness is an important aspect of critical thinking, as the latter requires the consideration of multiple perspectives; however,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-608585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}