but the capacity for negation and refusal comes to us very, very early—typically within the first twelve to eighteen months of life. It is soon followed (or, less often, preceded) by “yes,” and, for a while, that’s the kind of world we live in: a black-and-white, yes-and-no universe. Psychologists call this developmental stage “splitting.”* Right around the age of five, though, something interesting happens: we learn the word “maybe.” This first tentative foray marks the beginning of our ability to acknowledge, quantify, and talk about uncertainty. As such, it also marks a major step toward
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