2 minute read
EDITORIAL
On uncertainty
Formulated by the German physicist and Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg in 1927, The Uncertainty Principle states that we cannot know both the position and speed of a particle, such as a photon or electron, with perfect accuracy; the more we nail down the particle's position, the less we know about its speed and vice versa. While this is a basic principle of quantum mechanics, it rings bells for New Zealanders, and the rest of our race in this uncertain time.
Substitute "the virus" for "a particle" and you get the picture. While our wonderful scientists and health researchers are rapidly getting to grips with Covid 19: its morphology, its ability to infect human beings, how we can treat its it, how we can protect ourselves from infection – and so on – our society's response is still not clear. We are living in times of uncertainty, probably not seen since World War II. Since the second world war, generations have been born and grown up in times of, it seems now, great certainty. "Peace in our time" meant that for 75 years our society has been able to make phenomenal advances in our understanding of our world, its chemistry, physics, biology, history – and so many other areas of endeavour. But now we are dealing with a different sort of uncertainty. "I don't know how many staff I will have on the production floor tomorrow." "We don't know if we will have a delivery of packaging in time for the production run." "I've got an exam next week, I hope I don't get Covid before then." "I'd love to see my son in Melbourne but maybe I'll wait until things settle down." "Let's postpone our coffee date for a couple of weeks." "What happens if I get Covid while I'm away?" "I am tired of online study, I wish we could go back the lab." "I haven't made any money for six months, and now food is really expensive. How can I pay the rent and feed my family?" "My business has failed. I don't think I can face risking that again." Is a global pandemic like a world war? Does it shift society into a different pathway? I wonder what life will be like in ten year's time? Will we be struggling to recover from another pandemic – or will we have learnt from this one and created risk profiles and mitigation plans for all possible disasters? I hope so but history suggests not. Disaster mitigation planning is not a science for the faint-hearted, dealing as it does with unbearable possibilities, and governments prefer to spend money on short-term, "feel-good projects". Meanwhile, our industry continues to feed us, and some of the rest of the world. In fact, due to uncertainty in world markets and supply, some of our commodities are commanding record high prices. It is an ill wind that blows no-one any good.
Anne Scott FNZIFST, Editor
