Appeal to consequences (argumentum ad consequentiam)

Biological Parallel

Ground squirrels suppress alarm calls when predators are near their burrows—warning others would reveal the burrow location and doom their offspring. This consequence-based silence seems logical but operates independently of whether a threat actually exists. The appeal to consequences exploits our ancestral calculations where outcomes (survival, reproduction) mattered infinitely more than accuracy. Brains evolved to maximize fitness, not truth; we're wired to ask 'what happens if I believe this?' before 'is this actually true?'