In a time of deep uncertainty, brought on by seismic political and economic shifts and the deteriorating environmental outlook, the inner battle between sliding into deep apathy and the urge to find meaning in the seemingly nonsensical becomes even stronger. It is the latter that has to triumph, as it is through making sense of the world around us that enables us to learn, thrive, and, in the end, make progress. For through learning there is the chance to find understanding and in understanding, the chance to find opportunity.
Struggles of the last few years, particularly those stemming from the pandemic and its aftershocks, have led communities, especially in wealthier, developed countries, to learn to live with a heightened sense of unpredictability. Yet it is still essential to build resilience and to develop mechanisms to manage risk, and in doing so support self-preservation. The ability to do so again comes through striving to understand.
The worst pandemic in decades, Covid-19 introduced many of us to a whole new set of data, lexicon, and experts from the worlds of life sciences and medicine that we had never come into contact with before in our attempts to comprehend the situation.