What would the world look like if nobody ever made a mistake? Ian Osborne, Worcestershire

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Readers reply

Quite boring, to be honest. Sagarmatha1953

Presumably, the world would sound very different, since nobody would have felt the need to develop pitch-correction software such as Auto-Tune. EddieChorepost

It wouldn’t exist. Mistakes are almighty: you can’t ever guarantee that the next moment will host no manifestation of a mistake. According to evolution theory, the diversity of life on Earth entirely emerges from copying mistakes of DNA polymerase. Boris Borcic

If you’re going to count mutations as mistakes, we’d have no evolution, so we’d all be primordial goo. unclestinky

Suggesting that failing is a fail is a terrible perspective. It’s a natural part of life and, yes, some fails will end badly, but there’s no better way for establishing the best ways of doing things. Jon Wyatt

We’d lose quite a few inventions where people made a mistake and yet something useful came of it, such as Corn Flakes, Super Glue, dynamite, Post-it notes, Popsicles, penicillin, Teflon, X-rays, microwave ovens, vulcanised rubber and many more. Troy_McClure

It depends on how you define “mistake”. For instance, I think unleashing unregulated AI is a huge mistake, but I know others who think it’s marvellous. I think the Industrial Revolution was a gargantuan mistake, but perhaps most of humanity would disagree. poorprints

It would look infinitely utopier than it does now. If I’m not mistaken, that is. ThereisnoOwl

Every football match would end 0-0. PeteTheBeat

We’d still be living in the Garden of Eden, in affordable housing. jno50

I remember being told as a youngster: “A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything.” d33pf1x

If there’s a divine force in the universe that is looking over us (from a safe distance?) then it seems to me that we are allowed free will so that we can make mistakes and learn from them. Otherwise, we would be nothing but flawless machinery. Isn’t the larger question whether we are capable of learning from our mistakes? Maybe it’s time to work on improving our social and emotional regulation skills? Tech and better tools in the hands of the emotionally stunted isn’t working out all that well. GrannieSal

A lot of potential answers depend on whether bad judgment counts as a mistake. There are countless examples of individuals, groups, entire countries and even civilisations choosing the wrong option. I expect a lot of wars, famines and recessions would have been avoided if better choices were made throughout history.

A world without mistakes would probably mean a world with barely any risk-taking. We’d all be much more equal; the difference between the haves and have-nots would be smaller. What there would be to actually have, and all the options and opportunities available, might be much more limited, though. GhostieRidesAgain

Well, you can look at pharmaceutical companies or oil firms or even (my gosh) governments, but for individuals we might just have world peace. Think: no more speeding cars or drink-driving. The world would be very nice and we could dedicate ourselves to improvements. David Hollinger

Who judges a “mistake”? For instance, I think bombing Iran is a mistake, some people think it’s exactly the right thing to do. Selling Britain’s water providers? Ditto. And many other things. Essentially, there may be no such thing as a mistake, only a different viewpoint. Mind you, anything Maggie did or Donald does is a mistake. Voting for them, too. Innocent

Eventually, everyone makes a mistake. I’m dreading it! BaronOchs