Evolving, Progressing, Uncertainty, Certainty?

I enjoy reading the Weekend Review of the Saturday Vancouver Sun and the May 22^nd edition included these two articles in this order;

• Page C4 – We’re evolving, but are we progressing? Not such a simple question: The idea of ‘progress’ cuts many uneasy ways By Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun May 22, 2010
• Page C5 – Bothered by uncertainty? Certainty is scarier – Economic crises occur because people are sure they have everything figured out. The truth is, we don’t have a clue By Dan Gardner, Canwest News Service May 22, 2010

While these articles are outstanding, seems to me the order of these articles should have been swapped.

Dan Gardner’s article offers that we are really not all that certain about the cause of the May 6^th DOW plunge of 1000 points that wiped out $1 trillion in assets because first it was blamed on Greece and then it was blamed on a trader with fat fingers that hit the trillion key instead of the billion key.

Gardner goes on to say that two weeks after the May 6^th DOW plunge of 1000 points, know one really knows for sure so how can we be really certain about anything and that our projections of what is going to happen is only a best guess.

People find that scary, which is entirely understandable. As I discuss in Future Babble — my forthcoming book, available at fine stores everywhere — human nature loathes uncertainty. It demands explanations. And so the brain churns them out as quickly and effortlessly as breathing. Usually, they are satisfying and we don’t investigate further. But sometimes we are forced to confront evidence that our explanations are nonsense and we are left with the realization that we really don’t know the answer. That’s when we get cold, sweaty palms. – Dan Gardner, Canwest News Service May 22, 2010

Garder goes on to talk about the value of skepticism and the addiction to certainty which brings up my thoughts about last week’s sell off of currency to buy US dollars. Wait a minute, isn’t the US broke so why buy US dollars?

So the whole thing leaves my mind uncertain about what is certain … only if I allow my mind to be uncertain.

Douglas Todd’s article talks about evolution and that if you believe that we are evolving then it would stand to reason that we are progressing and also offers views from some that we are regressing in many ways and the progress is one step forward and one step back.

So while many of us in the industrial countries enjoy the convenience of driving an automobile, I am deeply saddened by the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

I’ll leave you with the last three paragraphs of Douglas Todd’s article;

Even though the evolutionary process does not guarantee progress — the confidence that we will ultimately succeed, or even avoid global disaster — there is something embedded in evolution that continues to call forth people and other living things to creative transformation.

Each of us is being asked to contribute to the evolutionary process. Even though the world is in constant flux, evolution calls us to make in each moment the best possible choice. We proceed with hope, even when things are uncertain.

Every move we make, every step we take, creates the foundation on which the next stage of evolution builds. – Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun May 22, 2010