Our Obsession to Certainty
We are obsessed with certainty. Because uncertainty is scary.
Our fear of uncertainty is nothing new. It’s as old as human history. We want to make sense of how things work around us and that was the same for our ancestors 2000 years ago. Religion developed to turn the unknown into the known. In the old days, instead of science, they relied on religion for their questions. People somehow had to make sense of their existence, death and how the universe was created. Beliefs helped them to fill in the blanks and made them feel safe. A famous British philosopher Bertrand Russell said, “Religion is based primarily upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly as the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes.”
Still, many people need their big bro — god, God, gods or whatever you call him— to help them with their troubles and disputes. That’s because the fear to the unknown has not changed. Religious or not, to a certain extent we all have things that we believe and claim we know them to be true. Take global warming for example. Some people argue they know for a fact that the climate is changing due to human activities; There are scientific evidence to back it up and DiCaprio is saying it’s happening, so it has to be true. And then, there is Mr. Trump who is so sure that the concept of global warming was just a trap made by Chinese. There are as many deniers as believers and discussions around this topic could get ugly. Partially, because neither party is willing to listen the other side’s arguments. They are so sure they are right, they shut out information that contradicts their beliefs.
Human brain constantly tries to predict what would happen in the future or make sense of what happened in the past. It’s programmed to avoid uncertainty so we can avoid risks and learn from the past in order to survive. That’s why most of us are stuck in our comfort zone. Stepping out of it means stepping into the uncertainty. Another thing is that once a piece of knowledge — I rather call it a belief — is formed, our brain likes to collect evidence that supports it and tends to ignore information that questions it. It’s called confirmation bias and that’s how some people are able to believe what they know when there is little to no solid evidence. It’s like saying your favorite burger place is better than my favorite when you’ve never eaten at mine. You didn’t even know about their blue cheese dip for the fries. Where does that confident come from?
It’s irritating to see people acting so confident about what they know — believe — when there is little to no evidence. “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts.” Russell hated the know-it-alls too and left this brilliant quote. Doubting everything we know is the way we grow. Because we think we know but chances are we are wrong. Knowledge is after all a collection of beliefs. Even some of the greatest science theories turn out to be wrong. Even facts, which the dictionary defines as things that are known or proved to be true, are not certain. So how in the world can we be so sure about something?
That’s why I don’t believe in certainty. What we know today, could be wrong tomorrow. My favorite writer, Mark Manson says, “certainty is the enemy of growth” in his book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Certainty kills our curiosity and prevents us from gaining new knowledge or worse being open to new ideas. Can we still say that uncertainty is scary? I say certainty is.
A friend of mine who I respect, once told me the best way to learn was by challenging known facts with “what if…” Tim Ferriss also talks about the importance of asking ourselves, “What if I did the opposite?” This applies to anything in life, from fundamental knowledge of how the world or business works to personal growth. We have to train ourselves to be okay with things being uncertain. I have a lot of questions, random questions popping up inside my head all the time. I am an annoying question asker. I used to try to find answers to all my questions. But now, I don’t expect each of my question to be answered. In fact, I don’t think they can be and need to be. Questioning and thinking are the important part, not answering. And after some thinking, we eventually come to some sort of a conclusion. In science, that could be a fact. It needs constant revision, but for now, it’s a fact. And in personal life, that conclusion is a call to action. We are feeling dissatisfied with our job once we loved. Or maybe a partner we were madly in love with. Ask, what could be the cause. Think. Once we identified the possible issue, we need to act on it, it’s time to break out of that comfort zone. This is never easy because we have to break our human nature. But it’s sure worth it.
Here is a beautiful quote from Humans of New York;
“I’ve spent my life trying to undo habits — especially habits of thinking. They narrow your interaction with the world. They’re the phrases that come easily to your mind, like: ‘I know what I think,’ or ‘I know what I like,’ or ‘I know what’s going to happen today.’ If you just replace ‘know’ with ‘don’t know,’ then you start to move into the unknown. And that’s where the interesting stuff happens.”
So next time when you catch yourself arguing your burger place is the best one in the city, stop and ask yourself; Maybe I’m wrong. I could give it a try to your burger, and the blue cheese dip with sweet potato fries on the side.
