NdukuOutLoud

On uncertainty and daily unknowns

Wikipedia defines uncertainty as a state of limited knowledge where it is impossible to exactly describe the existing state, a future outcome, or more than one possible outcome. It further adds: “Uncertainty refers to epistemic situations involving imperfect or unknown information. It applies to predictions of future events, to physical measurements that are already made, or to the unknown.”

This sounds like everyday life.

We live in an environment of unlimited knowledge—even about the most “basic” of things. Like how we see. Yes, you open your eyes, and there are objects all around you, and then there’s light, and reflection, and images being reflected upside down on some part in the eye from which the brain uses already stored information to classify the objects as either safe, or not. And to decide our next action. It takes a second, or maybe even less to spot objects. And all that happens. And it happens constantly throughout the day.

Science can explain that, and try to make sense of plenty of other workings of the body and the world around us. But most of it is what we do not know for certain.

And that’s just the environment. When it comes to decisions and events, which I think might be the main focus of the prompt, we can never really know the outcomes. We can predict, based on past events and on the information we might have. But we cannot be certain that things will turn out just as we have predicted.

Mostly, it is frustrating. The fact that you could follow instructions to the letter, take all the necessary precautions, and still not have the thing turn out the way you want it to. But it is also the fun and interesting thing about life.

That nothing is set in stone. That we do not know for sure what will happen today, tomorrow, or even the next minute. This is the bit that makes me feel like uncertainty is not something to be dealt with, but rather what we should appreciate most about life.

It is rather freeing to know that anything is possible. Because in a way, that is what uncertainty really is. It is the endless possibilities we are presented with every day. The realization and acceptance that as much as we have some control over the actions we take today, we have little to no influence on the outcomes of our decisions.

Uncertainty is the essential companion of the adventure of living. Without it, tomorrow would merely be yesterday repeated; with it, every sunrise is an open question.

Almost like rolling the dice every day and hoping for the best.