Spaghetti, clay and trust: what a tower taught us about sources

It looked like a break activity. Each table got a pile of dry spaghetti, some coloured modelling clay and one instruction: build the tallest tower that can stand on its own for ten seconds.

Our first tower was tall, fast and impressive for about three seconds. Then it folded. The second one was shorter, wider and built on a solid base, and it stood. When the trainer asked us to compare it to how we decide what to believe, the room went quiet for a moment.

What we took from it

• The base matters most. A claim built on one anonymous screenshot is like a tower standing on a single stick.
• Speed is the enemy. The groups that rushed to finish first were the ones that collapsed.
• Every joint is a weak point. Each time a story is retold, something can slip.
• Teams beat individuals. Someone always spotted a wobble the builder couldn't see. Asking a friend "does this look right to you?" works the same way.

A strong story, like a strong tower, needs a wide base: more than one source, and at least one you can actually check.

We laughed a lot that afternoon, and our table's tower was not the tallest. But I still think about that wobbling spaghetti every time I'm about to share something I've only seen once.