The Future Is Not Set

I’ll go out on a limb here, and assert that nobody likes uncertainty.

I may be a bit of an outlier, even there: I don’t like surprises, even good ones. I shake my Christmas presents (which drives my family crazy). Years ago, when I learned, moments before it happened, that my job was giving me a surprise baby shower, I very nearly headed for the parking lot.

I have spent my life trying to anticipate every eventuality, which as it turns out is impossible. And yet my brain has been trained (...