ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the range of uncertainties facing us in the modern world, which are both extensive and pervasive. However not all uncertainties matter equally, and some do not matter at all. It is important and necessary for us to be able to separate out those uncertainties which matter, and to develop appropriate responses to them. For example, the rise in government regulations designed to minimise risk is an indication of how citizens expect their rulers to protect them from uncertainty and its effects, instead of taking responsibility for their own lives and choices and recognising that uncertainty is inherent in life. In order to understand how risk management might meet the challenge of uncertainty, people first need to clarify the relationship between uncertainty and risk. People demand certainty and precision from scientists and complain when they are unable to quantify risks from sources such as mobile phones, genetically-modified foods or climate change.
