October/November 2003

Volume 44, Number 2

That certain uncertainty

by Frank Tagader, Rocky Mountain Chapter President

I've been at my job for nearly 10 years, and while I love my work, there is no comfort of knowing that I could continue on here for the next 22 years or so to get to retirement. And, even if there were that cushion of comfort, would I be inclined to see myself here 20+ years from today? The world has changed from my parents' time. It could even be claimed that a decade's worth of world changes have taken place in the last two years.

In some cases it is probably too convenient to use September 11, 2001, as a turning point. It is true that many of the political, business, and cultural changes we have seen in the last two years were shaped by September 11, or by the world's reaction to September 11. However, plenty of other changes that were blossoming or germinating prior to that time are now affecting us.

The national economic downturn started well before the events of September 11, and we certainly are still feeling that aftermath in many respects.

I think we are seeing more uncertainty in our daily lives than ever before. That big collective sigh of relief that we felt when the Berlin Wall came down and the end of the Cold War has been replaced by a new nervousness. Maybe at some point in the future we can relax a bit, even with the threat of terrorism, new diseases, and more and more pockets of political unrest worldwide.

Living a life of uncertainty, I have adapted a principle of quantum mechanics into a bit of homespun philosophy that gets me through the rough patches.

I take comfort in Werner Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. In 1927, Heisenberg stated "The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice-versa." Twenty years ago, as a college student, a lecture by a college dean spun this bit of scientific observation into something reaching beyond the boundaries of physical science into everyday life. I can't recall the exact wording, but it was akin to "the only certainty is that there is a certain uncertainty."

If there is an uncertain relation between the position and the momentum (mass times velocity) of a subatomic particle such as an electron, then when you pull away from the microscope, what does that mean for objects much larger such as people and events? To me this is both frightening and awe-inspiring. Nothing is certain. There are endless possibilities.

What does this have to do with my day-to-day life? Well, currently I'm in the midst of a corporate acquisition at work. There are lots of fried nerves as people worry and postulate about the future of their jobs and what they can do to affect that future. Sure, this can be scary, and there are no guarantees that the corporate powers that be won't eliminate this position or that (and "that" could easily be my own position).

Another of Heisenberg's statements is, "I believe that the existence of the classical 'path' can be pregnantly formulated as follows: The 'path' comes into existence only when we observe it." Over the years, I've heard this combined with other parts of the principle to intimate that the very act of observation changes the event.

It may be a stretch, but I sometimes think of this in terms of the ostrich hiding its head in a hole. You can change things by merely observing and taking stock. But I am trying to do more. I'm trying to do the best I can with my job, not just waiting it out. Maybe this will pay off, with continued work within the new organization, or maybe I will be forced to take a new path. Whatever happens, it will be an adventure. Of that point, I am certain.