Sometimes knowledge is a tricky thing! Too many options spoil the choice! It is like when you have time during weekend and then you decide to watch a movie with the family!
Now if it was the once a week movie in DD; you simply had no choice! All work would be done and you will promptly sit in front of the TV and watch the movie in between the ads and maybe even the news!
Now you do not have ads and the time is yours and you have a thousand movie to choose! But still you have difficulty in selecting what to see! You have more than one option but still may not be hundred percent sure which is the best!
Welcome to the state of Epistemic Ambivalence!
First you must know what is Ambivalence!
So Ambivalence is the emotional state often arises in complex relationships, where an individual’s feelings are influenced by conflicting behaviors or traits of the other person. For example, you might like your friend but also feel frustration due to his or her annoying habits! You also respect and love your parents but know that they are not perfect since neither are you!
Epistemic Ambivalence is almost the opposite idea of what ambivalence means because to be epistemic means you know, you are sure!
Epistemic ambivalence is when you may know the truth of a situation but cannot say which truth it is, because there is more than one option!
Confused!? Well, imagine a situation and then imagine more than one option. Or imagine a parallel universe where more than one option exists at the same time though in this universe only one of the options is true!
Epistemic Ambivalence creates a delicate interplay between uncertainty and confidence, distinguishing it from epistemic uncertainty that typically diminishes with new information.
It’s like Schrodinger’s cat analogy where you can have both options!
Doctors face this many times since they have the option of treating a condition in more ways than one and depending on the situation every option may be different but still valid and may work! Then again you may never know which is right or wrong till you do it! Of course that is experience! In medical practice that is one of the most important factor!
Then again Epistemic Ambivalence may just be another fancy term to confuse us all the way to space! Anyway that talk about space and you know our stranded Astronauts who had a plan of maybe some days, ended up for months so far away uncertain of the future!
For them and in fact majority of people in the world, life needs to be simple! A routine which is a dream for many and not some fancy sounding word!
Wishing Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore a comfortable night’s sleep with gravity on a cozy bed on Earth!
Oh yeah! You already have that don’t you!?
shubh ratri!
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