" I ate of that apple. It tasted like safety." - Ken Woodward
Once a submarine goes under, nobody aboard knows exactly where they are. The boat runs on an estimate that drifts, and being off course feels exactly like being on course. The only remedy is to come up and take a fix.
In this solo episode, Ken asks whether certainty is what keeps us safe, or whether safety comes from our ability to keep checking our position against the world.
He draws on his time as a Navy Radioman plotting fixes, Arie Kruglanski's research on the need for closure, a Listerine ad campaign that manufactured a fear to sell a cure, and John Keats's idea of negative capability.
He also tells the story of a political and religious certainty that once absolved him of responsibility, and what 2,085 miles of D.C. streets taught him about fear.
The episode closes with a question to take with you: Is my need for certainty making me safer?
This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.
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Keep questioning!