But absolute certainty is a mirage. In life, we’re required to base our opinions on imperfect information and make a call with sketchy data. “We didn’t know what we were doing when we landed” on Mars, Squyres admits. “How can you know what you’re doing when no one has done it before?” If our group had postponed until the choices presented themselves with perfect clarity—until we had perfect information about our landing sites so we could design the perfect set of tools for them—we never would have gotten to Mars. Someone else willing to tango with uncertainty would have beaten us to the finish
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