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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Impact of science & technology on society
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The Cunning of Uncertainty (Hardcover)
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The Cunning of Uncertainty (Hardcover)
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Uncertainty is interwoven into human existence. It is a powerful
incentive in the search for knowledge and an inherent component of
scientific research. We have developed many ways of coping with
uncertainty. We make promises, manage risks and make predictions to
try to clear the mists and predict ahead. But the future is
inherently uncertain - and the mist that shrouds our path an
inherent part of our journey. The burning question is whether our
societies can face up to uncertainty, learn to embrace it and
whether we can open up to a constantly evolving future. In this new
book, Helga Nowotny shows how research can thrive at the cusp of
uncertainty. Science, she argues, can eventually transform
uncertainty into certainty, but into certainty which remains always
provisional. Uncertainty is never completely static. It is
constantly evolving. It encompasses geological time scales and, at
the level of human experience, split-second changes as cells
divide. Life and death decisions are taken in the blink of the eye,
while human interactions with the natural environment may reveal
their impact over millennia. Uncertainty is cunning. It appears at
unexpected moments, it shuns the straight line, takes the oblique
route and sometimes the unexpected short-cut. As we acknowledge the
cunning of uncertainty, its threats retreat. We accept that any
scientific inquiry must produce results that are provisional and
uncertain. This message is vital for politicians and policy-makers:
do not be tempted by small, short-term, controllable gains to the
exclusion of uncertain, high-gain opportunities. Wide-ranging in
its use of examples and enriched by the author s experience as
President of the European Research Council, one of the world s
leading funding organisations for fundamental research. The Cunning
of Uncertainty is a must-read for students and scholars of all
disciplines, politicians, policy-makers and anyone concerned with
the fundamental role of knowledge and science in our societies
today.
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