Dafaffa

A Problem

Imagine you are in charge of airport security at an international airport in Florida. An American Airlines counter clerk calls to inform you that a person scheduled to get on Flight 1304 to Dallas has refused to board the plane, claiming that she is psychic and she senses that there is a bomb on board. You meet with the psychic and recognize her from the Larry King and Montel Williams shows. You vaguely remember her claiming to have used her psychic ability to solve several important criminal investigations. Aside from being agitated about the bomb, she seems normal. You order everyone off the plane and call in a crew to do a bomb search. No bomb is found but the flight has to be cancelled because some crew members have exceeded their work hours by the time the search is finished. Your action causes hundreds of people to miss their flights. The airline loses money because it has to arrange other flights for the passengers, including one for the psychic. Did you do the right thing? In your defense you claim, “In these times, we can't ignore anything.” Your boss disagrees. She tells you that to her knowledge no

psychic anywhere has ever discovered a bomb using psychic powers. She says that you should not have been impressed that the psychic seemed normal or was famous and had appeared on entertainment programs. She tells you that you should have had the psychic detained and questioned. Your boss considers firing you and sending word to Dallas to have the psychic arrested for making threats against a flight. Who is the better critical thinker, you or your boss? Why?