Knowledge

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Comments

Isn't it just that typically not much hangs on answers about the numbers of stars, but you can e.g. ruin your clothes by getting it wrong about the paint?

But if it matters (say, to win a competition with a big cash prize), I bet you would double check my statement about the number of stars, and not just fill in what I tell you on the competition entry form. And if we are idly gossiping in the pub, and I boringly mention that the new-fangled paint that they've been advertising takes for ever to dry, I don't suppose you'd leap out of your seat to check the room I've been decorating: you'd shrug and say it was my turn to buy a round of drinks.

What you bother to check will depend not on the topic so much as on how much hangs on getting things right.

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