Engineering people often have a simple, binary view of truth. A fact is fact, regardless of who believes it, how many of them there are, or how often they state it. Either MongoDB is ACID-compliant or it’s not*. It doesn’t become more factual if a hundred prominent authorities are proclaiming it every day. This is true, and it’s also useless when it comes to working in an organization.

Organizations are made of irrational people who respond to social cues. It does matter who believes in something. It does matter how many believers there are. It does matter how often the belief is asserted. Part of this is because we are half-evolved social apes. But it also has to do with ambiguity and uncertainty. Only simple truths are cut and dried. MongoDB can be ACID compliant, depending on what you mean by it and how you’re using it. We can’t be certain we understand both the question and the answer. Also, achieving that understanding is costly. Those social cues help us resolve the ambiguity and uncertainty with less mental cost. It doesn’t get us the perfectly right answer every time, but rarely are perfectly right answers necessary.