17 Assess Risk

cog•ni•tion (kog-nish’en)1. The mental process or faculty by which knowledge is acquired. 2. Something that comes to be known, as through perception, reasoning, or intuition.

—American Heritage Dictionary

The purpose of assessing risk is to understand the risk component of decisions. When we identify and analyze risk, we assess the probability and consequence of unsatisfactory outcomes. Risk assessment is a method for discovery that informs us about the risk. We are better able to decide based on knowing the risk rather than not knowing it. We invest our experience in the attempt to understand the future. By measuring uncertainty, we are developing an awareness of the future. Future awareness is the result of a cognitive thinking ...

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