Human beings have probably filed the world's longest complaint against uncertainty. We curse it, insure against it, predict it, pray against it and even elect governments promising to eliminate it. When none of that works, we consult economists, doctors, financial experts and, occasionally, astrologers, hoping someone has struck a special deal with the universe.

Yet, remove uncertainty from life and, ironically, most of us would die of boredom long before death arrives.

We seek certainty: a secure career, a happy marriage, stable governments, predictable markets and good health. But scratch beneath the surface, and something more interesting emerges. We do not truly seek certainty. We seek favourable possibilities and probabilities.

Imagine if life actually delivered on the certainties we keep demanding. We would know election results before campaigning began, cricket scores before the toss, every bestseller before page one and every promotion before the appraisal season.

Mystery writers would disappear, casinos would become museums, and hope itself would quietly resign.

A life stripped of uncertainty would cease to be life; it would become an instruction manual.

The Value Of Uncertainty

More than a century ago, economist Frank Knight distinguished between........

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