Samenvatting

This is the last of a series of 3 columns on uncertainty. A response to uncertainty can be radicalization, It is argued that confirmation bias plays a role in this initial “radicalization”: the tendency to prefer information that confirms one's belief as “facts” to contradictory information (“fake news”). People who have just switched to something new, vegetarianism for example, or who have just started a new study, can be very fanatical at first and want to lecture everyone. But no one has the energy to compete again and again on the cutting edge of the “game” (infatuation, new beliefs, etc.), so luckily the nuance returns with time. After the radical "infatuation" (outshout/ignore uncertainty), uncertainty regains its place and space is once again created for the human dimension, for solidarity and nuance. The couple in love who give
themselves completely to each other eventually regains an eye for the rest of the world. I have been a vegetarian for over 50 years, so I never really talk about that anymore. Bias fades with time.