Uncertainty In The Mind's Eye, By Oliver Sacks

Only one thing will be certain in the future, and that is mystery. It is this very mystery, this uncertainty about the future that provokes the mind to anticipate and predict based off of previous experiences and encounters. The mere nature of uncertainty forces individuals to actively think and foresee outcomes that will shed light on the matter. In Oliver Sacks’s “The Mind’s Eye,” Sacks introduces blind individuals who seem to be able to interpret their worlds before actually interacting with them. Some blind individuals predict with the greatest of accuracy while others predict with the greatest of creativity. Nevertheless, both types manage to cope with uncertainty in the same fashion—prediction. Similarly in Barbara Fredrickson’s “Selections from Love 2.0,” Frederickson shows how the brain of certain individuals seem to be able to neurologically jump to predict the next thing someone is saying. Evidently, both Sacks and Fredrickson would seem to agree on the concept that the mind tends to innately make predictions, as these predictions are key to coping with uncertainty. Adding on to this notion, Daniel Gilbert’s “Immune to Reality,” shows how the mysterious and unexplained aspects of life are often interpreted in the best way. This happens because when something is left in mystery, …show more content…
They never stop to question about the questionable and seeks for answers in a world where answers are not always present. Consequentially, they begin to fabricate answers in hopes that one day those answers may come true. In a spiral of uncertainty, we manage to forge a straight line that guides us to our desired future. However, the question still remains: why do we do this? Why do we take life in constant anticipation and not what it already is? Is it because we get bored with the present or is it because we’re curious in nature, or is it much more than that? Whatever it is, we can only hope that that uncertainty may become clearer with