{
  "id": 1219070,
  "title": "The trouble with getting used to miracles",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/16/the-trouble-with-getting-used-to-miracles",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-16T05:31:37.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/the-trouble-with-getting-used-to-miracles/articleshow/133270156.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Success breeds complacency when it comes to marvels. Miracles morph into routine, unnoticed necessities. Think of the convenience your mobile device offers before the sun even rises - pinpointing your location, mapping a route, forecasting weather, translating foreign languages, even video chatting with someone across the globe. Such marvels have faded from the realm of wonder. This reflects a deeper issue: much of the science that surrounds us has become invisible, precisely because it functions seamlessly. The transition from discovery to everyday life often results in science disappearing once it proves useful. GPS technology exemplifies this - satellites transmit clocks that tick at different rates due to varying gravitational forces and speeds. Complex principles of Einstein's relativity ensure your navigation remains accurate, yet we rarely contemplate these complexities. Instead, we simply follow the blue dot. This trend of science becoming ordinary poses a challenge. Once the extraordinary becomes mundane, it risks becoming unseen. Our ability to navigate through an ocean of information depends not just on amassing facts, but on cultivating a scientific mindset - questioning the reliability of claims, verifying data, and constantly re-evaluating our beliefs. It's not about dissecting every scientific paper, but adopting a habit of critical thinking: asking \"how do we know?\" \"What's the evidence?\" \"How certain are we?\" \"What are we missing?\" This mindset is crucial in an era where misinformation spreads rapidly and technological promises often outpace reality. The practice of looking at things from different perspectives can offer fresh insights. Space exploration, with its vast distances and immense timescales, provides this opportunity. Viewing things from a new vantage point can reveal hidden dimensions of truth. As a writer without a scientific background, I approach these subjects with a curious outsider's perspective - always asking the fundamental questions: What does this mean? Why does it matter? How do we know? And what if we view it from a different angle? I believe this approach, which I've termed 'Parallax', is essential in our information-saturated world. It encourages us not merely to accumulate facts, but to cultivate a disciplined curiosity that keeps us questioning and learning.",
  "summary": "Modern technology works so well it becomes invisible to users. This invisibility makes critical thinking about scientific claims essential today. We must ask how we know things and what evidence supports them. Developing disciplined curiosity is a necessary defense against misinformation. Looking at familiar things from new angles offers valuable perspective.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}