covid – Fountain Magazine

Dunning-Kruger Effect: Audacity Born Out of Ignorance

The Fountain — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 00:00:10 +0000

“The fool’s heart is on the tip of their tongue; the wise’s tongue is in the extreme bastion of their chest.”
M. Fethullah Gülen [1]

Throughout human history, numerous writers, philosophers, scientists, and religious scholars across different eras, geographies, and cultures have arrived at a common point about interpreting society and people. This finding—long known as the “audacity of ignorance”—has only recently been addressed scientifically.

Two American social psychology professors, David Alan Dunning and Justin Kruger, conducted social experiments to scientifically prove Charles Darwin’s theory “Ignorance augments one’s self-confidence more than true knowledge.” In Dunning and Kruger’s experiments, participants were given four tests in the areas of humor, grammar, and logic. They were then asked to evaluate their own performance and estimate how many questions they would have answered correctly. The results revealed that participants who performed poorly on the tests rated their own performance above average. The researchers called this the “double burden” of unskilled people and stated that it was due to the individual’s lack of ability to evaluate their own knowledge and experience. According to them, the main problem was that they were “unskilled and did not know they lacked proficiency” [2].

Dunning and Kruger formulated their results as follows:

Incompetent people always overestimate their own abilities.
They do not realize the extent of their own inadequacies.
Because of their ignorance, they do not feel the need to improve their knowledge and skills.
They consistently underestimate the superior qualities of others.

The study also found that the best performers were the humblest who underestimated their knowledge and abilities [3].

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is two-sided: Unqualified people exaggerate their own knowledge and abilities; and on the flipside, people who are truly experts in their field tend to behave humble and downplay their experience and abilities [4].

Since experiments in the positive sciences have measurable parameters, their results are more reliable; human psychology is much harder to study, as the number of variables affecting the outcome is exceptionally high. Therefore, research in this field must be more extensive and eliminate the parameters that affect the outcome by deploying objective criteria.

In a study on the Dunning-Kruger effect in Southern Illinois University aviation students, students were tested on both grammar and piloting knowledge. The results of the study supported the DK effect and revealed that students with low scores overestimated their abilities, while students with high scores underestimated their abilities [5].

In a 2018 study examining the development of overconfidence in new hires, it was observed that the self-confidence of people who exhibited a humble attitude at their hire was far ahead of their performance with little experience. As they continued to gain experience, their self-confidence first fell and then surged again in proportion to their performance [6].

In 2021, another study attempted to prove the existence of the Dunning-Kruger effect using electroencephalography (EEG), which records the electrical signals in the brain. Participants in the bottom quartile overestimated their percentile and participants in the top quartile underestimated their actual scores. In the experiment, where the reaction times of individuals at these two levels were also measured, it was found that those in the lower quartile reacted faster, while those in the upper quartile reacted slower. It was also observed that dissimilar mental processes occurred in the brains of these two groups during the evaluation [7].

In another recent study, the existence of the DK effect was tested under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study surveyed 2,487 participants, asking them about their level of education, sources of information, and COVID-19. Finally, the participants were asked how many questions they could have answered correctly. Poor performers’ self-estimates were disproportionate to their actual level of knowledge and much higher than the overall average. They were also found to have lower levels of education than other participants and to prefer social media and mass media as sources of information [8].

If the person under the Dunning-Kruger Effect realizes their ignorance and gains knowledge and experience, they can overcome the negative effects of the phenomenon. There are four main periods of self-confidence in this process:

Mount Stupid: This is when the Dunning-Kruger effect is at its peak, when people are pretentious in their own knowledge on a subject about which they have meager information.

Valley of Despair: This is the stage when one faces the inadequacy of one’s existing knowledge. When one realizes how little they actually know, their self-confidence sinks. The sentiment, “I know everything,” is replaced by, “There is much more than I know.”

Slope of Enlightenment: The person who has fallen to the lowest point of despair pushes themselves to increase their level of knowledge and skill and makes progress. From the Valley of Despair, they gradually climb towards the Slope of Enlightenment. This is the stage where real learning begins.

Plateau of Sustainability: This period does not imply that the person has mastered all knowledge. The person can now clearly draw the boundaries of their level of knowledge on a certain subject. They can clearly identify what they do not know, and make an effort to do so. Self-confidence rises again, but the tendency to be modest may also increase [9].

Conclusion

This phenomenon, which has always been controversial, continues to tempt both supporters and opponents with new research. As of today, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is not recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5). It is still recognized as a psychological phenomenon rather than a pathological condition. However, it is sad that the phenomenon described is visibly common in society. When we think about it, it is not hard to find people under the influence of the DK effect in business, education, politics, sports, and arts. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we sadly witnessed those with little knowledge on the subject make statements on social media and mass media and pass laid-back judgments in contrast to the experts.

In an interview, Dr. Dunning said, “The key mistake people make about the Dunning-Kruger Effect is about who falls victim to it. The effect is not really about others; it is about us. The lesson to be drawn is how humble and cautious we should always be about ourselves.” The Dunning-Kruger effect affects not only ignorant or unskilled people. It impacts us all about the things we are yet to learn [10].

From a different perspective, “ignorance” has always been a major human weakness traditional scholars have addressed throughout history. Fethullah Gülen explains that there are three degrees of ignorance. “Simple ignorance” is when a person does not know; “double ignorance” is when they do not know that they do not know; and “triple ignorance” is when they think they know, although they don’t. In relation to this Gülen said, “The Arabic word muq’aab means “three-dimensional” and ignorance at this level is almost impossible to eradicate. It leads people to diverse delusions; sometimes into tyrants, sometimes into the likes of Yazid ibn Muawiya or Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, and sometimes into a Führer, down every path except the straight one” [11].

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi also draws attention to the connection between knowledge and humility: “In society as a whole, everyone has a window, known as rank, through which to see and be seen. If the window is higher than a person’s stature, he will grow taller through arrogance, but if it is lower, he will bow down out of modesty to see and be seen at that level. The measure of greatness in man is smallness, that is, modesty. The scale of smallness is bigness; that is, arrogance” [12].

Notes

M. Fethullah Gülen, Ölçü veya Yoldaki Işıklar, [Pearls of Wisdom] Istanbul: Nil Yayınları, 2011, p. 126.
J. Kruger, D. Dunning, “Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999; 77:1121–1134.
Brian Duignan, “Dunning-Kruger effect”, www.britannica.com/science/Dunning-Kruger-effect
Jochen Mai, “Dunning-Kruger-Effekt: 4 Phasen der Selbstüberschätzung”, karrierebibel.de/dunning-kruger-effekt
S. R. Pavel et al. “The Dunning-Kruger Effect and SIUC University’s Aviation Students”, Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering, 2013, s. 125–129.
C. Sanchez, D. Dunning, “Overconfidence among beginners: Is a little learning a dangerous thing?”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2018; 114(1), 10–28.
A. Muller et all. “Neural correlates of the Dunning-Kruger effect.”, Eur J Neurosci, 2021 Jan; 53(2): 460–484.
A. Claessens et al. “Self-Illusion and Medical Expertise in the Era of COVID-19”, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, April 2021, 8/4.
Joshua Render, “The Dunning-Kruger Effect”, agile-mercurial.com/2019/07/12/the-dunning-kruger-effect
Jonathan Jarry, “The Dunning-Kruger Effect Is Probably Not Real”, www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking/dunning-kruger-effect- probably-not-real
M. Fethullah Gülen, “Sevgi İksiri ve İmanın Tadı” [Elixir of Love and Taste of Belief], 1/10/2015, www.herkul.org/herkul-nagme/485-nagme-sevgi-iksiri-ve-imanin-tadi/
Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, Mektubat, [The Letters] Istanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, p. 536.

Ernie

The Fountain — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 00:00:09 +0000

My lover is dying.

We met late, both forty-two, both Elvis diehards, both into hiking through spectacular scenery in remote locations. The Inca Trail was endless shambolic staircases, an acute episode of food poisoning, and the coming together of two akin spirits. The priceless reward for such a brutal trek was not the breathtaking abandoned citadel of Machu Picchu, but the unparalleled joyful finality of discovering one’s soulmate.

We would go on to explore the planet together, trekking its tallest peaks hand in hand, from Tanzania to Tibet. We devoted hours of the working week to running and biking in preparation for the extreme elevations we would encounter during our annual high altitude expeditions. He and I crafted aerobic capacities to rival that of any Olympian; our bodies specialised in the ultra-efficient oxygenation of red blood cells.

How mercilessly ironic for him to be dying due to the failure of his lungs to provide him with sufficient oxygen.

My lover is dying of acute respiratory distress.

My lover, the man whose embrace evokes in me both a comforting familiarity like a ticking clock to a weaned pup, and a stoking of the flames of passion as though our romance were freshly forged. I know the coordinates of his every last crease and mole, could scrunch my eyes and trace his outline in precise detail, have learnt by heart the exact sag of his stomach, bulge of his biceps, sharp lines of his shinbones.

His body is not new, but we all know where beauty lies, and to this beholder it is a work of art encasing his precious soul; together they manifest as my fiercely cherished life partner.

Our love is not new either, yet it remains a vibrant shade of magenta. Never did it pale to pink, or worse yet, fade away entirely.

My lover is my heaven, my haven, my home.

My lover is dying in the hospital, alone.

Prior to this surreal era, we traversed a good portion of the globe together, though a number of further-flung destinations – Reykjavik, Tenerife, Rapa Nui – are yet to be struck off the bucket list. They shall remain forever unstruck; what was once a potential future is now a wistful fantasy doomed to the confines of my grief-stricken imagination.

It was rare for either of us to travel alone, but with my mother’s recent ailing health, we agreed it was best I stay home while my lover journeyed to London to meet his newest nephew.

We weren’t to know he would be swept up in the middle of a pandemic and struggle to catch a return flight. We weren’t to know that upon landing he would commence a fortnight of hotel quarantine only to be diagnosed with coronavirus four days in. We weren’t to know his dry cough would deteriorate into a wet one and he would be hospitalised one week later.

My ardent anticipation of a joyful reunion crumbled to ashes on a forgotten hearth, bone-cold and empty.

The hospital is only fifteen kilometres from home, but it may as well be on Mars. I cannot go there, cannot see him, cannot touch him. I hadn’t seen him in two months, since he kissed me farewell at the airport with star-sprinkled eyes, eager to meet the new baby, reunite with his brother, discover more of London; to go, do, live.

Then I got the call, far too early in the day. I was still in bed, still sleeping on my own side even if my lover was not there to occupy the other. By keeping out of his space I could somehow pretend that he was in it, right where he belonged.

They had commenced palliative care, the nurse said. They didn’t expect him to see the other side of the weekend, she said.

His side of the bed would remain empty forever.

Its vastness was suddenly overwhelming, and I jettisoned myself from beneath the warm covers to collapse on the hardwood floor.

The nurse’s voice continued to flow. I was invited to come to the hospital and see him.

To see him!

I arrived almost before she had hung up.

My phone, my watch, my glasses were to be left in the car. My temperature was to be normal, my flu vaccination to be current, my name to be signed at the bottom of a lengthy disclaimer form. A nurse would supervise my donning of the required protective equipment, beginning with a white mask for my face and a net to restrain my hair. My first attempt at putting on the mask was deemed incorrect, and I was compelled to toss it into an overflowing bin and start over with a new one. Then sanitise my hands. Put on surgical booties to cover my shoes. Then sanitise my hands. Put on full body smock, sanitise hands. Then on with a plastic face shield and two pairs of latex gloves for good measure. I was done up like an astronaut, ready to enter an alien land.

The nurse led me through plastic-sheeted halls to my lover’s ward, told me I had exactly fifteen minutes, and warned me I may find the experience confronting. I was bursting out of my skin to see him, yet I was also apprehensive. This was the last time I would ever get to spend with him. This was so special, so bittersweet, so momentous; I wanted nothing to go wrong. I stepped through the doorway.

My lover was lying on a hospital bed. I was allowed no closer than one and a half metres.

His eyes were open.

His skin was grey.

His head, my lover’s sweet darling head, lolled to one side at an awkward angle.

He is on morphine, the nurse told me.

The man who held my heart was reduced to this broken, pitiful being before me. The man I had chosen to share my life with was slipping through the veil between this world and the next. The man in whose eyes I had always sought and found reassurance was trembling and feverish, and I could not comfort him. There was to be no touching, no proximity of any kind.

I spoke to him lovingly, soothingly, repeatedly, then as he failed to respond, urgently. Hidden beneath a mask and gown, I called to him, eyes welling upon the realisation.

He did not recognise me.

His breath was a rattlesnake, and when it burst into a fit of coughing the nurse whisked me from the room, allowing re-entry only once his breathing had stabilised.

I gazed forlornly at what was left of the man I loved, a crippled shell and woozy mind no longer fit to house his noble soul. The one with whom I had lain a thousand times was departing his earthbound vessel, was beyond my reach, beyond even my voice.

“It’s time to go,” the nurse said.

I could barely choke out a final farewell.

“Goodbye, my love.”

I don’t know if he heard me.

We should have been attending my niece’s wedding in Adelaide in December. Her mother, my sister, lost her husband two years ago, to a long battle with a brain tumour. She had to watch him slowly wither and decay over a period of many months. She was at his side from the time of diagnosis right through to the time of relinquishing her job to bathe, feed and wipe him like a baby. When he was finally dealt the mercy of death, she was at his bedside, playing him a soft score of his favourite tunes, stroking, soothing, whispering goodbye.

Would anyone play the King’s records for my lover, a soundtrack to his egress?

As I sit at home, numb with not knowing, my lover is erupting in pink secretions from the blood cells leaking into his airways. I crave news of his condition, yet dread it. He is drowning in his own fluids.

I miss him. I don’t think I can live without him.

We should have been celebrating his birthday with sponge cake in September, planting the garden with tomatoes in October, toasting our anniversary with moscato in November.

Instead, he is dying.

The two decades we spent in a divine state of oneness feel like an eternity, for I cannot remember what my life was like prior to his entering it. An eternity that was not long enough, however, as I dread to imagine a life without him, having known him, loved him, cherished him every day for the past twenty years.

How grateful I am for each priceless minute he and I were blessed with one another’s company. From those budding moments high in the Andes through to mundane evenings in living room silence, from the long Sunday afternoons of exuberant lovemaking to the hurried little good-bye pecks on the way out the door on work mornings; I am thankful for it all.

The manner in which this joy has all ended leaves me like the ruin of a war-torn city, lovelorn for its ill-fated citizens whose memories stalk the streets in the absence of their earthly bodies.

We all must one day die; certain knowledge of this is the penalty for being born human. While a premature emptying of the hourglass feels as though one has been shortchanged, no-one can know when their final grains of time will pass.

I am not bitter that the man I love more than I ever thought possible must depart this world so soon. But I am devastated I cannot be with him when he does.

My lover is dying, and I can’t even hold his hand.

The Present

The Fountain — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:08:40 +0000

On my sixteenth birthday, my mother gave me a leather-bound journal with my name embossed in gold on the front cover. I stared blankly at the blank pages with pale pinstripe lines traveling end to end, crowned with a fleur-de-lis watermark.

I sat in my oversized wicker butterfly chair, my legs crisscrossed tightly and forming a natural table, trying to think of something to write, only to end up tossing the journal on the top shelf of my closet, waiting for dust to cover it.

When the pandemic first made headlines, I thought, “now what?” I had already been through so much.

Fewer than four years before, my husband had died from pancreatic cancer. Initially, his prognosis was grim. He was given one year to live, an overwhelming reality for a man in the prime of his life. Five weeks later, he collapsed and passed away in our living room in the middle of the night.

There is a type of silence that permeates the air in the aftermath of a tragedy. It’s palpable. In those first few minutes, that silence engulfed me. I felt a pain as if something had been physically drawn out of me. All alone, I kissed him for the last time before dropping my head and crying, “What do I do, now?”

I needed to find a strength that was not in my nature. We had three children. My priority was never to let this define their character, never to use their father’s death as a crutch or have it hang like an anchor around their necks.

Losing my spouse left me confused. How does the coffee maker work? Is today trash day? I had not realized how much I depended upon him. It’s not that I was subservient to him—quite the opposite. We were equals. But I had gotten lazy. It was easier to let him handle it all. Honestly, the right hand didn’t know what the left was doing. I didn’t know the individual passwords to our accounts, making it impossible to pay the bills. Without a paper trail, I didn’t know what bills we owed. I’m embarrassed to say I was unaware of the amount of money we had in our savings account. I found out it wasn’t very much.

From that day forward, I busied myself, often to the point of exhaustion. I functioned at high speed; I had a job to do. As a single mother, time rapidly became my enemy. I was trying to cram too many things into a day, coming up short, always late to games and social events. Notorious for being on the phone during my kids’ games, multi-tasking was my mantra. Everything got my full 25% attention. I took pride in walking the dog while talking on the phone and still listening to a podcast. My mind was always somewhere else, daydreaming of a different situation.

Even if you have never lost someone, you can imagine how it feels. We have all seen enough Hallmark movies. What I was not prepared for was getting smacked when I least expected it. There I was standing in the local market’s produce section when our wedding song played over the loudspeaker. Suddenly, I burst into gut-wrenching sobs, so severe I had to rush out of the store, pushing my way through the sea of pitying stares. I still had to go back inside because I needed milk and eggs.

Eventually, without his income to support us, my children and I had to move back into my childhood home. My mother had passed away years ago, but I still looked for her to protect us. It was a rough time in our lives. We yearned for life to be the way it had been.

It took all three years, but we healed. I went back to working full time. Our aching hearts lessened; this house took on our personalities. In February, my daughter celebrated her sixteenth birthday in grand style with a party. My son had graduated college and launched his new life. I felt joy for the first time, realizing we had come through that dark time, and we were back on track.

Then the pandemic hit. Like some at first, I believed it was just the flu—that it couldn’t hurt me.

Major work events were canceled, cities went into lockdown, the numbers staggering. Friends were testing positive. Some were getting sick. I was laid off from my job. My oldest son moved back home, putting his life on hold, and at-home virtual learning became a real thing. I felt like we were spiraling backward, our arms and legs flailing. Once again, I was overcome with a fear I hadn’t felt for years. The ground beneath us that we had worked so hard to strengthen was giving way.

I was living from my paycheck to paycheck, with very little savings as a cushion.

On the evening news, a woman about my age, with long blonde hair and blue eyes, was interviewed in her car while waiting in a food line, her kids in the back seat. “I have never needed to do anything like this before,” she told the interviewer.

The resemblance to me was uncanny. Our closeness to that situation made me quiver. I knew the look on my face registered my horror just by my kids’ frightened expressions.

“We’re okay,” I reassured them.

The pandemic wasn’t the only crisis looming over me. Without carpools, activities, and events, I was faced with an abundance of time. I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I embraced being able to spend time with my children, and they had to spend time with me, trapped on this island together. We streamed shows and played games—board and VR, which frankly made me want to throw up. We laughed. More than that, we talked, we talked about their Dad and the old house and this house. I was relieved to hear they liked this house just as much. We remembered the fun times in this house with their grandmother. I had never taken the time to sit quietly and listen to them before.

I was not the type to put together a puzzle, nor could I create international meals or strive to bake the perfect sourdough bread. I did like to garden.

Although everyone thought I was crazy, I was inspired to build a vegetable garden on our hill. The hillside was transformed from a downward slope to terraced, level areas. We built raised planting beds, filled them with soil, planted seeds in neat rows, and marked each row with hand-painted signs nailed onto old pieces of wood.

Every night my body ached; my arms were sore. The sun had tanned my skin in odd patterns depending on what clothes I wore. My manicured nails were becoming those of a gardener with the paint chipped, broken, and cracked. When I was putting gas into the tiller, some dripped on my hand, removing what little polish was left. I soaked a rag and finished the job.

And yet, I always felt fearful of what could happen to us. Would we end up in long food lines? I found myself up nights, bombarded by a litany of what-ifs: What if we get sick? What if we become homeless? What if? What if? Always circling back to the same belief: if only my husband were here, he would know what to do.

My mother used to say, “if the same thing keeps happening, it’s because you didn’t learn your lesson.”

One hot afternoon while I was sitting outside, my sixteen-year-old daughter handed me that old journal of mine. “Here, I found this in my room,” she said.

Having forgotten all about its existence, I opened it to the first page. In my mother’s handwriting was this:

You are stronger than you think you are.
When you experience and survive your biggest fear, you will become stronger. If what you thought would break you didn’t break you, then you will be prepared for another storm.

The pandemic was the perfect storm.

The words my mother had written may have meant nothing to me when I first read them, but on that afternoon, they meant everything to me. What were the chances of this journal showing up?

I sat in my backyard, without a to-do list at hand, without the responsibility of watching kids in the pool. I. Simply. Sat. In. My. Yard. Quiet.

There were hummingbirds, large ones that sounded like helicopters as they hovered in my backyard. Was I that hummingbird, continually moving, only stopping for a second to eat?

When you can’t go out to dinner, you can’t go to people’s houses, and friends can’t come to your home, the only place you can go is inside. And that’s precisely where I went, inside my mind. The scariest place I’ve ever been. Stopping frightened me. On the outside, I appeared strong, but why not on the inside?

I had already experienced and survived my biggest fear with my husband’s death and losing our house. I asked myself over and over, “Am I prepared for this storm? Am I strong enough?”

That’s when it hit me. Trust in yourself. Your strength has been inside you all along. You have it in you to thrive.

If I hadn’t been forced to be quiet, I never would have heard what I needed to hear or learn what I needed to know or take stock of myself. I’m not naïve to think bad things won’t happen again, but now I have the tools to handle them.

Like my garden, it was time to plant seeds and sow a new life for when all this passes and things return to normal.

This pandemic has given me a gift, a second chance. I opened the journal to a clean page and wrote one sentence:

I am present.

The Fountain Essay Contest 2021-2022

The Fountain — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 04:20:07 +0000

The Fountain Essay Contest 2021-2022: REVIVAL

After a long dormancy in this Covid era, our lives seem to be taking off for a fresh start. Vaccination is speeding up, people are mostly cautious in their interactions with less handshakes and kisses, and despite ups and downs in new cases and deaths, signs for “revival” are getting more visible every passing day.

What does revival mean to you? How do you revive?
Is getting back to “normal” a revival when there is a new normal every day? What is your new normal?
Having faced the reality of death grievously during the pandemic, what would “revival” mean to those who lost their lives and to their loved ones left behind?
How has your perception of life changed as we have realized our fragility and could not prevent the loss of millions?
Do you believe in revival after death, and how did you rely on these beliefs during the pandemic?

Writing is an important to heal ourselves. We are expecting your essays on “revival” to hear your story which can be a source of healing for you and others.

Submissions to be posted: December 1, 2021 – April 1, 2022
Deadline for submissions: April 1, 2022
Contest open to all writers worldwide
Ideal word count to be between 1,500 and 2,500
For submissions check out www.fountainmagazine.com

Cash prizes

1st Place – $1,000
2nd Place – $500
3rd Place – $300
Two Honorable Mentions – $150 each

THEME

What qualifies a good essay?

An essay that you feel your heart rests more comfortably on. The more concise an essay, the more acceptable it is. Its authenticity and uniqueness, and how elaborately you put your theme into words so that others are inspired from it.

REFERENCES

Do we have to include references, bibliography, notes, etc. as in an academic journal?

The Fountain is not a journal. Thus, we do not expect a full scale reference list for all the information you provide. But, we encourage contributors to provide at least a reasonable number of references (not more than four or five) especially for the arguments borrowed from other sources, as it would make your work more reliable. If the kind of information you provide needs citation, please provide it; but essays with lengthy references are not preferred. Some reference and recommendations for further reading may help readers who are interested in the essay. Accuracy of data is expected in essays in which information provided needs sourcing. An essay based on personal experience does not require citation, and it is equally acceptable.

WORD COUNT

Does the word count limit include the bibliography or just the essay itself?

The Fountain is not a full-scale academic journal, so we expect authors to keep references to a maximum of four or five. Notes can be more. References and notes do not make a big change in word count which is advised to be between 1,500 and 2,500. A range is always necessary to be able to have an objective measure in terms of size.

STYLE

What kind of writing style do you expect? Can we use informal phrases? Is this essay supposed to be a personal opinion piece, or more of a scholarly supported article?

In writing style, we mainly seek consistency. We prefer the Chicago Manual of Style, but if you are more familiar with another style, that is also acceptable. Some informal usage can be OK in a certain essay, but not in another. It is basically the author’s call.

Would an essay in the short story genre qualify for the contest?

As long as your theme is skillfully woven through its structure, and if it upholds The Fountain’s values and principles, yes.

PUBLISHING

Are you going to publish submitted essays anywhere?

We might publish submissions in The Fountain, both the print and web editions, even if the essays did not win any prize. By submitting your essay to this contest, you agree that you give permission to The Fountain to publish it in any medium.

As the copyright holders before published, the authors have the right to submit their work elsewhere on condition that they notify The Fountain in advance.

NUMBER OF ENTRY

Can I submit more than one essay?

No. One entry per person.

DISQUALIFICATION

What makes an essay disqualified?

Offensive and devotional essays — particularly essays that emphasize superiority of a specific worldview or derogating a specific worldview—will be disqualified. Essays that “propagate” a certain spiritual order, a religious denomination, a spiritual leader, or a political activist, etc. in a way that subordinates all other faiths and traditions are considered devotional and will be disqualified.
Title is missing – Do not forget to put a title. Titles are important for readers and reviewers to see what lies in the center of your message. Missing title will disqualify your submission.
Submissions already published elsewhere are not accepted.

EVALUATION

Who will determine the winners? Can you explain more specifically what you are looking for in a winner?

The winners will be determined by our board who will decide according to the literary effectiveness of the essay in reflecting the philosophy behind the motto, richness in content, and authenticity.

All submitted essays will be evaluated using the following criteria.

Relevance to the contest theme (40 points)
Innovation & creativity (30 points)
Writing style and structure (30 points)

SUBMISSION

How am I going to submit my essay?

Submissions are over as of April 1st. Thank you all for your interest!

DEADLINE

When is the last day for submissions?

April 1, 2022

ELIGIBILITY

Who is eligible to participate in this contest?

There is no age limit or a condition to fulfill for entry. The contest is open to all who want to share his or her ideas with us.

2020-2021 Essay Contest Top 20

The Fountain — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 14:00:58 +0000

Let’s fan the fire a bit more!

Here is the top 20! Congratulations to all. Top 5 will be announced very soon. We know we all have waited for too long in our homes in 2020 – but please bear with us a bit more.

Adrianne Vicciarelli – Change
Aimee Christian – COVID Gave Me A Chance to Show My Parents I Loved Them
Anubhav Mahapatra – Life Is Hope, Hope Is Life
Ariadne Blayde – City of Death, City of Life
Calvin Henninger – Some Thoughts on Misery and Joy
Diane Parkes – The 91-Year-Old Man Who Is My Father
Edie Jones – Loneliness: Defeated and Conquered!
Elizabeth Pappa – The Blue House
Fernando Andres – Tales from the Line
Hamza Ali – The Second Ticket to Life
Hannah Borababy – The Belly of the Beast
Jannie Edwards – Meditation on Tenderness in a Time of Plague
Julia Marino – Cancer in the Time of COVID
Lauren Barrett – A Walk to Repair
Leslie Freiberger – The Present
Mariya Tytarenko – Homo Covidicus
Melissa Hurley – Music, Masks, and Mayhem
Rainie Zenith – Ernie
Rita Marques dos Santos – A Room Full of Stars
Sunara Fernando – Survival Mechanisms

2020-2021 Essay Contest Shortlist

The Fountain — Sun, 30 May 2021 14:00:58 +0000

Here is the shortlist for 2020-2021 Essay Contest “My Covid Story.” Congratulations to everyone who could make it from among a thousand submissions.

We are thankful to all participants for sharing their stories many of which were heart-breaking while still enthused with hope. We pray that the world will be saved from this pandemic very soon and all loved ones are reunited again.

Winners will be announced very soon. Please follow our announcements!

Khadija Qazi – 2020: The Best Year of my Life?
Brittany Halbeib – A Letter to A World in Pain
Princewill Udom – A Real Human with A Real Family
Sandra Stevens – Better than Prozac
Clare Blanchard – The Old-New Normal?
Namwano Shichende – Brewed in a Pandemic Pot-1
Janette Fu – The Omen of the White Butterfly: Death and Regrets
Kalpana Sinha – A Doctor’s Experience in Saudi Arabia
Steve Staneart – Covid and Life Lost
Melissa Hurley – Music, Masks, and Mayhem
Lauren Barrett – A Walk to Repair
Rainie Zenith – Ernie
Edie Jones – Loneliness: Defeated and Conquered!
Diane Parkes – The 91-Year-Old Man Who Is My Father
Mariya Tytarenko – Homo Covidicus
Anubhav Mahapatra – Life Is Hope, Hope Is Life
Jannie Edwards – Meditation on Tenderness in a Time of Plague
Leslie Freiberger – The Present
Rita Marques dos Santos – A Room Full of Stars
Aimee Christian – COVID Gave Me A Chance To Show My Parents I Loved Them
Julia Marino – Cancer in the Time of COVID
Jay Mark R Cordero – When Fantasy Slowly Turns into Reality
Doreen Mason – Covid Sunrise
Mike Brown – Empty Chairs
Isabella Ayarza – Life Preserver
Alex Lucky Nxumalo – Face to Face with a Deadly Enemy
Lilith Kelly Lyons – Catalyst of Covid
Ashleigh Mounser – Finger Lime
Christopher Davis – Covid-19, Quarantine, and Me
Sifon Ikpe – Out of the Darkness and into the Light
Kriscel Carandang – Grief Is a Whole New Kind of Sadness
Hadithi Da Storytellah – I Lost It All
Kevin Pfundstein – It’s a Small Word
Adrianne Vicciarelli – Change
Ariadne Blayde – City of Death, City of Life
Hamza Ali – The Second Ticket to Life
Sofia Spencer – The Sacrificial Family for Submission
Souzan Ali – Three Women on Balconies
Rayla Noel – Touchables
Berna Ismail – My Sedative Redemption
Josh Chaffin – Prisondemic
May Freitas – Symphony of Destruction
Thandi Mpofu – But We Carried On
Jade Keiner – Jenny Phillips – My Pandemic Pandemonium: From Feral to Faith
Trang Nguyen – Out of the Boxes Back to Nature
Brenda DeHaan – Pandemic Silver Linings
Holly Johnston – Polio, Coronavirus, and Me
Sharena Sigmon – The Nonlinearity of Loneliness and Isolation
Calvin Henninger – Some Thoughts on Misery and Joy
Sunara Fernando – Survival Mechanisms
Fernando Andres – Tales from the Line
Christina Stanton – From 9/11 to Covid: My Life in Bookends
Nihar Pradhan – Covid-19 in Catch-22 – MY COVID STORY
VarishaTariq – Egg and Potato
Sharanga Senanayake – Covid-19, A Double Edged Sword or A Blessing In Disguise?
Zahra Monib – The Art of Being Selfish
Hannah Borababy – The Belly of the Beast
Elizabeth Pappa – The Blue House
Kayla Joan Baur – The COVID Paradigm
Kiesa Kay – The Covid Queens
Mercy Me – The Dung Pile That Was 2020
Priscilla Owusu – The Waking Ups, the Ups and Downs
Sabrin Shaher – Treasure a Moment of Life with No Fear
David Prescott – The Fragility of Us All
Arida Wright – The Magic in the Miracle
Zoe Loprest – The Meaninglessness of Coronavirus and The Comfort Found Within It
Lucy Reynolds – The Reveal of the Unknown Dilemma of My Ambiguous Life
Brannon Johnson – Unpredictable
Daphne Strasert – Waiting and Waiting and Waiting
Sydney Majors – Where Did My Youth Go and When Am I Getting it Back
Jordan Fash – Why COVID Gives Me Hope

Covid Resilience

The Fountain — Sat, 01 May 2021 15:47:23 +0000

The recent pandemonium
enveloping us all

unsheathes a swashbuckling
double-edged sword

advancing our retreat
into global disconnect

may our union reunite
beating swords into plowshares

The Fountain Essay Contest 2020 – 2021

The Fountain — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 04:20:07 +0000

My COVID-19 Story: Reflections on Life and Human Existence During the Pandemic

Submissions to be posted: November 1, 2020 – March 1, 2021

The Coronavirus touched virtually every corner of the globe and almost every person’s life in some way. Hundreds of thousands have already died, and. its economic ramifications have been disastrous. Individuals have been separated from extended family members and communities; schools and places of worship have been closed.

We want to hear your COVID-19 story. What has the virus taught you about life? If you were not infected, what has your experience been like as an “outsider?”

How did you manage to cope with quarantine, change of routines, loss of social interaction, and perhaps a decreased sense of community?
If you are a religious person, what was it like when your place of worship was closed? How did you feel about God during this “calamity”?
Have your thoughts on the meaning and purpose of life been affected?

We encourage our contestants to explore this issue in a way that is most meaningful to them, and to do so while making sure to avoid speculative narratives and political polarization.

Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2021. Winners will be announced on May 31, 2021.
Contest open to all writers worldwide
Ideal word count to be between 1,500 and 2,500

Cash prizes

1st Place – $1,000
2nd Place – $500
3rd Place – $300
Two Honorable Mentions – $150 each

Frequently Asked Questions

THEME
REFERENCES
WORD COUNT
STYLE
PUBLISHING
NUMBER OF ENTRY
DISQUALIFICATION
EVALUATION
SUBMISSION
DEADLINE
WINNERS
ELIGIBILITY

THEME

What qualifies a good essay?

REFERENCES

Do we have to include references, bibliography, notes, etc. as in an academic journal?

WORD COUNT

Does the word count limit include the bibliography or just the essay itself?

STYLE

What kind of writing style do you expect? Can we use informal phrases? Is this essay supposed to be a personal opinion piece, or more of a scholarly supported article?

Would an essay in the short story genre qualify for the contest?

As long as your theme is skillfully woven through its structure, and if it upholds The Fountain’s values and principles, yes.

PUBLISHING

Are you going to publish submitted essays anywhere?

As the copyright holders before published, the authors have the right to submit their work elsewhere on condition that they notify The Fountain in advance.

NUMBER OF ENTRY

Can I submit more than one essay?

No. One entry per person.

DISQUALIFICATION

What makes an essay disqualified?

Offensive and devotional essays—particularly essays that emphasize superiority of a specific worldview or derogating a specific worldview—will be disqualified. Essays that “propagate” a certain spiritual order, a religious denomination, a spiritual leader, or a political activist, etc. in a way that subordinates all other faiths and traditions are considered devotional and will be disqualified.
Title is missing – Do not forget to put a title. Titles are important for readers and reviewers to see what lies in the center of your message. Missing title will disqualify your submission.

EVALUATION

Who will determine the winners? Can you explain more specifically what you are looking for in a winner?

The winners will be determined by our board who will decide according to the literary effectiveness of the essay in reflecting the philosophy behind the motto, richness in content, and authenticity.

All submitted essays will be evaluated using the following criteria.

Relevance to the contest theme (40 points)
Innovation & creativity (30 points)
Writing style and structure (30 points)

SUBMISSION

How am I going to submit my essay?

Submissions for this content are now over. Good luck!

DEADLINE

When is the last day for submissions?

March 1, 2021

WINNERS

When will the winners be announced?

May 31, 2021.

ELIGIBILITY

Who is eligible to participate in this contest?

There is no age limit or a condition to fulfill for entry. The contest is open to all who want to share his or her ideas with us.

In Search of a Vaccine for COVID-19

The Fountain — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 18:05:40 +0000

It has been over half a year since Covid-19 swept across the world and forced many countries into quarantine. Hopes of a quick resolution of the disease in many countries have since been, unfortunately, proven to be wrong, and it is evident that the virus is here to stay for a while [1]. The virus is so difficult to deal with considering it can be transferred from person to person even if the carrier does not outwardly display symptoms. Even animals, ranging from mice to tigers, can contract and transmit it to humans [2, 3], and we cannot quarantine or force them to wear facemasks. The virus will eventually hit each person; it is just a matter of time. The virus may additionally arrive in multiple waves, as it is possible to be reinfected [4]. COVID-19 will most likely have a lifespan of a few years, much like other major virus outbreaks of the past such as the swine flu in Hong Kong or Spanish flu. It will probably come and go like a common flu in never ending waves. So, each of us need to be ready until a successful vaccine is developed, and the wisest action for each person to be ready would be to boost our immune systems and practice effective social distancing and sanitation measures, while we deal with this virus for however long it may last.

Vaccines are critical for stunting the development and spread of viruses; however, they can be costly, time-intensive to develop, and not always perfect. It is worth exploring alternative methods to help protect our bodies from these pathological invaders while vaccines are being researched. As it so happens, the best method of prevention to date for HIV infections is not a vaccine, but is instead a tradition that is as old as thousands of years: male circumcision [5]. To give a comparison, the current widely popular and heavily promoted influenza vaccine is considered “50% effective against influenza B/Victoria viruses and 37% effective against influenza A(H1N1)” [6]. On the other hand, according to an article published in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, circumcision is up to 88% effective in preventing heterosexual transmission of HIV [7]. Male circumcision does not have any medicinal side effects, and the only risks that are involved are those related to any minor surgery – bleeding and infection.

In the 1980s, when I first heard of HIV, I remember reading articles which claimed, quite arrogantly, that vaccines and cures for the condition would be found within two or three years [8]. Forty years later, and after spending many billions of dollars on research, we are still nowhere near an HIV vaccine. At best, we found treatments which helped keep the HIV virus at bay [9]. To date, only two people have been fully cured with a method far too expensive to be applied to the general public [10]. In the meantime, at least 30 million people have died with more than half a million in the year 2019 alone [11]. While vaccines are critical for helping to eradicate viruses, putting all of our eggs into that basket alone can be a risky public health strategy due to how difficult and time consuming they are to discover, verify, and distribute. It is impossible to know for sure how long it will take to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. In the meantime, communities should heavily consider following the instructions of their local health officials which often include social distancing, limited size gatherings, and frequent hand washing as these methods are already proven to help reduce the spread of the virus.

Development, and even the rushed development of a vaccine, is always a very tedious and dangerous process. The science behind them is exceptionally complex, and imperfect results can have disastrous consequences upon thousands of people. This is further complicated by the fact that phase 2 and phase 3 trials can have quite diverging results [12]. In the USA, AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine trials were stopped after trial participants fell ill [13]. Third phase trials, which encompass thousands of people [14], still can give little indication of the long-term side effects to any vaccine. Besides, even though there is human life at risk, the vaccine has already become an instrument for many political and economic disputes and conspiracy theories. Some governments claim they have already developed a vaccine, while others find them unreliable, or try to lure a foreign company to work for themselves [15]. In August of this year Russia rushed registration of an unproven Coronavirus vaccine and named it, in Cold-War-like fashion, the “Sputnik V” [16]. The announcement was made by none other than Vladimir Putin himself. It was offered to the USA, but was rejected due to safety concerns stemming from a belief that the drug was not adequately researched and developed [17]. In the meantime, Russia announced the development of a second vaccine [18]. Surely enough, it was dismissed and downplayed by the West as unproven and unreliable. On the other hand, a vaccine developed by a Chinese company Sinovac proved to be the most successful in its phase 3 trials in Brazil [19]. Sao Paulo Governor João Doria purchased 47 million shots of the vaccine. However, the transaction was stopped, arguably for political reasons, by the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro [20]. Bolsonaro’s comments when rejecting the purchase of the Sinovac vaccine on the basis that “the Brazilian people will not be anyone’s guinea pig” are not totally without merit. Recalls of “proven and tested” vaccines have happened in the past [21].

It is important for all people to continue exploring methods to develop their immune systems and prevent the spread of the virus while we wait for a vaccine. In an article I had previously published, I discussed the benefits of fasting, vitamin C, and Wim Hof breathing methods to help protect the body from disease [22]. All of these methods are well known and quite benign with respect to side effects, however they are unable to cure Covid-19 or prevent its spread. Additionally, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has heavily stressed practices included social distancing and the wearing of non-ventilated face masks. Our hope is that going above and beyond to protect ourselves and our neighbors will give scientists the time that they need.

One way of giving that time to scientists is fasting. Fasting, like circumcision, is a tradition that is thousands of years old. In recent studies, a three-day water fast has been shown to reset the immune system of elderly people to the level of a twenty-year old’s [23]. At this current level of emergency in the world it would be very easy to find thousands of willing volunteers to trial monthly three-day water fasts and/or to take extra doses of vitamin C, not as a cure, but as a shield against COVID-19. This kind of study would not pose much risk and would definitely be very cost-effective. We could dive straight into the third phase of trials, for any side effects of fasting are already well known. And finally, if proven effective, its uptake by the population at large would be basically cost free and readily available across the whole world.

Our world has been enduring a difficult and challenging period for the better half of a year now. Time has given us the ability to learn more about the virus, how it disrupts our bodies, and how it spreads. This knowledge has, in turn, allowed us to research it and develop effective social guidelines for limiting its spread. Still, there is much work to be done. Hysteria and haste are not conducive to producing a vaccine that is thorough, effective, and efficient. It should be the responsibility of every able-bodied citizen to do what they can to learn more about how they can protect themselves from the virus and thus prevent it from spreading even more while we wait for a vaccine.

https://www.wuky.org/post/beshear-next-few-weeks-will-be-critical#stream/0
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/09/03/coronavirus-deer-mice-spread/
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/animals.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7326402/
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(99)03421-2/fulltext?_eventId=login
https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/20200226interimfluve.html
Halperin, D. T., & Bailey, R. C. (1999). Male circumcision and HIV infection: 10 years and counting. The Lancet, 354(9192), 1813-5. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(99)03421-2
https://www.immunology.org/publications/bsi-reports/60-years-immunology-past-present-and-future/the-hunt-for-hiv-vaccine
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/livingwithhiv/treatment.html
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/2nd-person-cured-of-hiv-thanks-to-stem-cell-transplant
https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet
https://www.fda.gov/media/102332/download
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/09/09/covid-vaccine-astrazeneca-trial-hold-what-does-mean/5757590002/
cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/clinical-trials/what-you-need-to-know/phases-of-clinical-trials.html
15 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/world/europe/cornonavirus-vaccine-us-germany.html
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/11/21363135/russia-coronavirus-vaccine-unproven-registration
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/251792/20200814/covid-19-us-says-no-to-russias-vaccine-sputnik-v-saying-theyll-never-use-it-on-monkeys-let-alone-people-vietnam-and-philippines-say-otherwise.htm
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/russia-approves-2nd-virus-vaccine-early-trials-73614460
https://fortune.com/2020/10/20/covid-vaccine-china-brazil-testing-ground-safest-most-promising-sinovac/
https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-brazil-state-governments-health-sao-paulo-b7b5b620ba54f402dbf803e26fe6b842
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/recalls.html
https://medium.com/@arasweb/surviving-the-pandemic-370b47120d8d
https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/

Science Square (Issue 135)

The Fountain — Fri, 01 May 2020 18:00:41 +0000

Nose cells as the key COVID-19 entry point

Sungnak et al. SARS-CoV-2 entry factors are highly expressed in nasal epithelial cells together with innate immune genes. Nature Medicine, April 2020.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Detection of the virus was first reported in Wuhan, China and has since spread worldwide and emerged as a global pandemic. COVID-19 primarily affects the lungs and airways and has a wide range of symptoms including fever, coughing, and sore throat. One of the scariest aspects of the virus is that some people may not manifest symptoms but can still carry and spread it. In severe cases, the virus causes pneumonia that can ultimately lead to death. Studies suggest that the virus is thought to be spread through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes and appears to be easily transmitted within affected areas. COVID-19 has spread to more than 184 countries and claimed more than 190,000 lives so far. One of the major questions scientists around the world are trying to understand is how the virus spreads, how we can prevent transmission, and how we can develop an effective vaccine. To discover the target cells involved in COVID-19 transmission, scientists analyzed the gene expression profiles of thousands of cells from 20 different human tissues including the lung, nasal cavity, eye, gut, heart, kidney, and liver. They specifically looked for individual cell types that expressed both of two key COVID-19 entry proteins – the receptor protein ACE2 and the TMPRSS2 protease. These analyses revealed that mucus-producing goblet cells and ciliated cells on the inner lining of the nose have the highest level of COVID-19 virus proteins of all cells in the airways. While there are many external and internal factors that contribute to the virus’ transmissibility, these findings are consistent with the rapid infection rates of the virus. The location of these cells on the surface of the inside of the nose makes them highly accessible to the virus and also may assist with transmission to other people. Interestingly, ACE2 and TMPRSS2 were also found in cells in the cornea of the eye and in the lining of the intestine. This suggests another possible route of infection via the eye and tear ducts, and also revealed a potential for fecal-oral transmission. These findings have important implications for understanding viral transmissibility and could have critical translational implications. For example, given that nasal carriage is likely to be a key feature of transmission, drugs and vaccines administered intra-nasally could be highly effective in limiting the spread of the virus.

Neutrinos Could Explain Why the Universe Has So Much More Matter Than Antimatter

The T2K Collaboration. Constraint on the matter–antimatter symmetry-violating phase in neutrino oscillations. Nature, April 2020

The current laws of physics propose that 13.8 billion years ago, at the time of the Big Bang, every particle of matter had been created with a counterpart called antimatter. Antimatter is precisely the same as matter but with an opposite physical property such as an electrical charge. The great mystery for physicists is why there is so much more matter than antimatter in the universe. If there had been equal quantities in the beginning then each particle would have wiped each other out in a blaze of energy and left the universe full of just photons and dark matter. To understand the mystery behind this asymmetry, scientists have utilized an experiment known as “T2K.” T2K is a collaboration between 500 international scientists that employs a proton accelerator in Japan that generates beams of subatomic particles called muon neutrinos and antineutrinos which then travel 295 km to the gigantic Super-Kamiokande detector, located in a tank filled with 50,000 tons of water under a mountain in Kamioka on Japan’s west coast. During this trip, the muon neutrinos and antineutrinos change in flight to electron neutrinos and antineutrinos, demonstrating the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations. The team observed for the first time that there is a significant difference between neutrino and antineutrino oscillations. Neutrinos were found to turn into electron neutrinos at a much higher rate than their antineutrino counterparts and, as a result, would propagate regular matter at a higher rate than antimatter. These results show that although matter and antimatter look so similar to each other, they can behave completely different. Previously, scientists have found some differences in behavior between matter and antimatter versions of other subatomic particles called quarks, but the differences observed did not seem to be large enough to account for the dominance of matter in the universe. This new data indicates that subatomic particle neutrinos might be the very reason the universe is dominated by matter. While the scientific community is very excited about these results, most experts suggest collecting a lot more data in order to get the confidence level of their results up over the current ratio of 95%.

Humans Tend To Go With Our “Gut Feelings” Over Evidence-based Decisions

Konovalov& Krajbich. Mouse tracking reveals structure knowledge in the absence of model-based choice. Nature Communications, April 2020.

A new study showed that when faced with a decision, humans prefer to follow their “gut feeling” or habits instead of taking all facts into account. In the study, participants played a simple computer game in which identifying patterns could make them more money. While following the patterns led to success most of the time, there was still a 10-40% chance that it would not give the best outcome. The researchers observed that 56 of the 57 participants were able to identify the pattern to make the decision that gave them the highest chance of success. However, only about 20% of players consistently went with that choice after it failed them. The other 80% of players diverged and made choices based upon their gut feelings. The researchers suggest that participants decided to go with their gut feelings when making in-game decisions because choosing the best pattern only led to a slightly higher chance of success. This study highlights how decision-making works in real life. People can learn what choices lead to the best outcomes; but putting that knowledge into practice can often be difficult as it likely takes a lot of mental and sometimes physical energy to always make decisions based upon your knowledge of your current environment. Moreover, the rewards of following the best strategy aren’t always obvious in real life. Following a familiar strategy may increase your success by only a small percentage. In our decision making, there is always the dilemma – what we should do from a statistical perspective versus what worked out well recently, typically in an anecdotal manner.