We explain what uncertainty is and its consequences on human beings. Also, the origin of the term and its meanings.
What is uncertainty?
Uncertainty is the lack of certainty, that is, of certainty, of secure knowledge on a given topic. In other words, the uncertainty is the impossibility of predicting a future event or get an idea of what is going to happen, or also the impossibility of determining whether something really happened the way you think about it.
The word uncertainty comes from Latin uncertaintycomposed of the voices in- (a prefix of negation), certus (“true”) and -tud (a usual suffix of quality). Therefore, uncertainty can be perfectly understood as the quality of that which is uncertain, that is, that which we cannot determine with certainty.
In general terms, human beings do not deal well with uncertainty and the latter It is usually the cause of a certain degree of anguish, apprehension and tension on our part, if not more serious defensive reactions.
In fact, the uncertainty It is usually combated through projections and premonitions of all kindsand is usually among those usually responsible for moments of crisis in societies: those in which people have many doubts about the immediate future. Uncertainty is associated with feelings of fragility, danger or loss.
See also: Insecurity
Specific uses of the term
It is possible to find the term uncertainty in technical or specialized contexts, always referring to situations in which it is impossible to make predictions with a high degree of probability, or determine certain conditions with great precision. For example:
- There is talk of uncertainty in the field of finance and risk, to refer to the inability of companies to guarantee the return on a specific investmentso the risk of losing money becomes more latent. In these cases, companies usually protect themselves in advance by introducing conditions for the investment or by trying to minimize the eventual loss.
- In the scientific field, it is common to speak of uncertainty to refer to the margin of error in measurements or predictions made. For example, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is often mentioned, according to which it is impossible to determine at the same time and exactly two observable and complementary physical quantities, such as the position and linear movement of an object. Thus, we must either know one, or know the other.
- In economics, we speak of Knightian uncertainty (in recognition of the American economist Frank Knight) when there is a risk that is neither measurable nor computable within an economic system.
Continue with: Decision making
References
- “Uncertainty” on Wikipedia.
- “Uncertainty” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Etymology of Uncertainty” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “What is uncertainty?” at TCM.
