Stop Asking When the Last Earthquake Was. Your Brain Is Lying to You.
When a 5.3 earthquake hit Suez, Egypt, the internet’s first instinct was to ask: “When was the last one?” That question feels like curiosity, but it’s actually a cognitive trap. Our brains desperately seek patterns in unpredictable events, and the availability heuristic distorts our sense of risk — making us overestimate gaps and underestimate danger. The result? Complacency where preparedness should be.