"I don't know why, but my gut's telling me no."

It isn’t new that some of the best or most successful works originated from just a “gut feeling”. I mean, it’s a little embarrassing how many times I gave up on a question on a test and either marked the longest answer or just Christmas tree-ed it. But sometimes, those answers somehow end up being correct. So here’s my question: if your gut is proven to be right most of the time, is it a mark of wisdom to always follow your intuition or rely on logic to find a solution instead?

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Hello! Today is the last day of Fall Break, and I 1) do not want to get up at six-thirty every day and 2) I do not want to start worrying about my GPA again. But that’s a conversation for another time.

Like I asked before, is it better to follow your gut most of the time or just push those instincts deep under and follow what is logical instead? Well, Albert Einstein was a clear supporter of the belief that it’s better to trust these instincts and sort things out later in the long run rather than dismiss them altogether. “I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am,” he said on the Saturday Evening Post of 1929. This makes you wonder; if this incredible physicist supported this so adamantly, then it must be completely credible, right?

Credible maybe, but not entirely uncontroversial.

You see, there are times when logic is the best way to go and when there isn’t even an option for it. A game called the Iowa Gambling Game was conducted in a laboratory to pinpoint the location in the brain where this “sixth sense” or intuition takes place. Ten people were playing and six of them had a neurological deficiency in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (try saying that three times in a row), or the area in the brain dealing with emotions and decision-making. The game consisted of two decks of cards, both containing monetary rewards along with penalties. One deck had large attainable sums of money but higher risks, while the other offered smaller sums and a lower risk of losing money. Each player would pick a card from either deck and either gain money or pay the consequences of the penalties. After several rounds of gaining and losing, four players obtained more money by the end of the game than the other six players. When asked what their strategy was, the four players responded that they just “followed their gut”. 

Intuition is an instinct that is carved into the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (again, one heck of a tongue twister) by past experiences, remembrances, and emotions. Your “gut” is something that grows, fails, and learns as long as you keep trusting it. But that isn’t a ticket for you to follow that “sixth sense” through night and day.

Here’s a scenario:

Mario was driving to the local fair. It was an annual thing, so it wasn’t a new occasion for him. Mario was in a hurry because he knew there would always be a huge demand for parking spots, but he wasn’t too worried because he knew a super secret spot behind the actual parking lot where he could park safely. Along the way, he came across a fork in the road; he was supposed to take the left road, but the right one had a metal sign that read, “MORE FAIR PARKING HERE”. Mario didn’t recognize the sign from last year, so he was a little confused. If he turned left, he could park in his usual, super secret spot, but if more parking was available on the right, he could be closer to the entrance.

“I don’t know why, but my gut’s telling me to stick to the left.” That was that. He took the path on the left and found out that his “super secret” spot was now overflowing with parked cars.

Yeah, this is a little cringy and specific. But it’s a working example of when logic is the best way to go. I mean, it was still tricky, but the answer was given on a silver platter, literally. Past experiences and theories couldn’t have mattered here; if they did, you would still be welcomed with a bunch of tightly-parked cars.

I guess the whole reason for my intuition-is-sometimes-right-and-sometimes-not emphasis is that there are just way too many things that we humans have to put a name to; “I will order this, but I won’t order that”, “that’s foolish, but that’s brilliant”. To be honest, It’s exhausting. You don’t see your dog or cat going out of their way to call something stupid or just… not good (actually, cats might be able to do that). Because there are just way too many questions waiting to be answered, sometimes there isn’t a clear option to pick. Sometimes the clues that are given to you don’t matter. In times like these, intuition or “your gut” chose an answer for you, to save you from your misery. Many times, it’s right, but in others, it doesn’t do so great. 

So, all in all, what, lovely readers, have we found? Your gut is great, but it can’t save your life all the time, so maybe don’t rely on it too much. Also, always read any and every road sign when you are driving!

What Do You Think?

You can’t tell me that there hasn’t been a single time in your life where your gut hasn’t saved your life, just like you can’t tell me that you’ve never used logic to answer a question. Let’s see how well your gut can work to solve these riddles!

• Does this cup have coffee or tea in it?

  
  

  

  
  

  ǝǝɟɟoɔ

• There are four doors, and you have a key to all of them, but you can only go through one door to escape. The rest lead to death. Which one do you pick?

Ɩ ɹǝqɯnu

• Is it a lemon or a lime?

uoɯǝl