Uncertainty
Notes
Uncertainty is when we don't have complete knowledge on a topic. These is either because we are unable or unwilling to close this knowledge gap, or whether because it is a future event that can be affected by Randomness.
Uncertainty causes us to be more loss averse Risk Management, meaning that we prefer what we have now because we have a bias towards minimizing risks as much as possible. A 100% now is better than 50% in the future, even if the differences are great (for example 5$ now vs 100$ in a year). The more uncertainty there is, the more we are anti risk. Therefore, what appears as a lack of Self-control is actually the result of a logical conclusion (even if we don't agree with that logic).
When the uncertainty is really high and continuous, we might experience Stress. For example, the poor who have little confidence in their financial situation, they don't know whether they will be able to make ends meet and bring food to the table are experiencing high stress in their day to day.
In those situations, we reject anything that is abstract and depends on the future, like goals and long term plans, and focus on basic needs Maslows pyramid. For example, we might even decide to eat/sleep when we can, because we don't know what will happen in a few hours, so months and years are simply irrelevant. We are more stressed, untrusting and mentally unstable.
The reason uncertainty is so painful for us is because we are a sense seeking creatures. There's a built-in desire to make sense of things, to bring clarity and order to a chaotic world. In that view uncertainty is our nemesis, it represents the fact that life is change, that it's filled with uncertainty that we can't do anything about.
There are few ways of dealing with uncertainty, such as.
- Fight it - double down on your Will to Power and try to control the situation as much as possible. On the one hand, we might discover that much of the uncertainty we face can be removed, and things that we were victim to are in our control. However, it is also a higher risk, because the more we expect that we can rise above the situation, the more we will fall if we discover that we can't do anything about it.
- Accept it - Some things are just beyond our control, and we have to ;accept it. The pain that uncertainty causes is the result of our judgment and expectations, rather the situation itself. If we remove this added layer, and accept things as they are, we might be more at ease with the circumstances of our lives.
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🔼Topic:: Epistemology (MOC) ◀Origin:: 🔗Link::