Uncertainty: On the difference between imaginary tale and real significance

Teresa Kwiatkowska, Wojciech Szatzschneider

Resumen


The objective of this study is to analyze and clarify misunderstandings concerning the concept of uncertainty. We look upon Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in physics and Knightian uncertainty that connotes the complexity of predicting future events. The first one applies to elementary particles only and refers to the impossibility of the simultaneous measurement of the position and the velocity of a particle at present.  Many disciplines borrow this concept with no scientific justification. Knightian uncertainty, mainly the unstructured one (practical impossibility of precise construction of probability model) cannot quantify and predict outcomes. This set sights on more reasonable approach in mathematical finance or climate change issues, among others.

 

Key words: Uncertainty principle, Knightian uncertainty, decision making, climate change, scientific context.


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Referencias


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