Here is a sentence I did not expect to write but now wonder why it took me so long. The most powerful, and perhaps most underrated, of human attributes is curiosity and its inseparable twin, critical thinking.

Within this humble duo lies the power to transform individuals, societies, and the entire human race. Courage, grit, and determination all have their place, of course, but it is curiosity and critical thinking that have opened our minds to the vastness of the universe and shown us the power in acknowledging what we know and what we don’t know.

As an engineer, a large part of my job description requires the accurate assessment and management of risk and uncertainty. Fear of uncertainty, unfortunately, is a deeply ingrained evolutionary trait, and although it has certainly served us well in the past, it can be a liability in today’s world.

In the earlier stages of our evolution, uncertainty meant we were in a high-risk situation. Survival in those times favored quick decisions rather than slower, but more thoughtful decisions. Fast forward to today and the opposite tends to be true. In fact, left unchecked, a fear of uncertainty can lead us to adopt false certainties that are much more dangerous to ourselves and others.

One way to overcome that fear is by engaging our sense of curiosity. When we examine a problem through the lens of curiosity, we route it through our prefrontal cortex instead of our amygdala. Uncertainty then becomes an asset, providing guiderails which are essential to good decision making.

But what I’ve observed over the last decade is a country that is becoming more and more addicted to certainty. And like most addictions, there are pushers, kingpins who are benefiting while everyone else in this equation is losing. The kingpins today are the political organizations behind the massive, well-funded campaigns to instill fear and doubt about trans kids, climate crisis, vaccines, women’s bodily autonomy, and the true history of Black and Indigenous Americans.

This podcast series and the book behind it, are about the costs of this societal addiction to certainty and what we can do about it.