Certain Uncertainty

Introduction

Certain Uncertainty

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief. It was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light. It was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope. It was the winter of despair.

The opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities¹ seem hauntingly prescient. Charles Dickens could have been writing about our present day. As we emerge from the fog of the Covid‐19 pandemic into a world threatened by a previously unthinkable war in Europe and a global climate crisis, and reflect on what we have learned, only one thing seems certain––that we live in an age of uncertainty.

Every year, the Collins English Dictionary publishes its 10 words or phrases of the year.² The list acts as a barometer of what's going on in the world. It “reflects our ever‐evolving language and the preoccupations of those who use it.” Lockdown and fake news have all featured in previous years, and 2022's list includes the terms “quiet quitting”—the practice of doing no more work than one is contractually obliged to do. But the winner—the word of the year in 2022? “Permacrisis: An extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events.”

It is this unsettled and unsettling new reality that we must all confront. And yet, it is not all doom and gloom. As Dickens reminds us, with uncertainty comes opportunity: a spring of hope. With ...