Hi. Ever since I can remember, I knew exactly
what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a math teacher.
It seemed like the perfect fit. I loved mathematics.
Both my parents were teachers, and I attended
an excellent university to become a math teacher.
I worked hard, and I earned good grades. And
then when I graduated from college, everything
pointed toward a bright future. A bright, certain
future. Until I started applying for my math
teaching jobs. And the answer was always the
same. No. Again and again. It was devastating.
I had done everything I thought I was supposed
to do. The future I had imagined suddenly disappeared.
My certain life suddenly became uncertain. And
I had no plan B. Perhaps you've experienced something
similar. Maybe a career that did not unfold as
you expected. Or a relationship that changed.
Or maybe a diagnosis that you never imagined.
The truth is, uncertainty is ingrained into nearly
every part of life. And what I find interesting
is that scientists have discovered something
similar about the universe itself. For centuries,
many believed that if we knew enough about the
universe, we could predict everything that would
happen. But today, modern physicists suggest
the picture may be more complicated. For example,
at the smallest scales, physicists often predict
probabilities rather than certainties. Whether
uncertainty is fundamental to reality itself
is still debated, but one thing is not. From
our human perspective, we all live with uncertainty.
And as an actuary, I spend much of my career
studying probability. Probability does not remove
uncertainty, but it helps us navigate it. It
teaches us to make wise decisions even when the
future is not fully known. Now looking back,
I smile at that young man who desperately wanted
to become a math teacher. Not getting that job
felt like one of the biggest disappointments
of my life. And yet, it led me to become an actuary.
A career I never planned for, but a career that
has opened doors I could never have imagined.
Sometimes the path we never would have chosen
becomes the one we are most grateful for. So
this week, we will explore how probability helps
us live in an uncertain world. But this week
is not just about math and probability, because
we will ask a deeper question. If certainty is
often unavailable, what does reasonable hope
look like?