When uncertainty acquires unprecedented power and fuels a sense of fear

The belief that the future will be an unfamiliar and alien territory has acquired the status of cultural dogma. The future is always uncertain but when it appears totally unfamiliar, society has great difficulty in preparing itself for it. In many historical circumstances, communities at least possessed a map that roughly outlined a vision of the future; and even if the map proved to be inaccurate, it allowed people to imagine different possible outcomes. When the future ceases to resemble the present, our sense of uncertainty is no longer mediated through an explanatory framework that can help interpret it and give it meaning. In such circumstances, uncertainty may acquire unprecedented power and fuel a sense of fear.

Frank Furedi, How Fear Works: Culture of Fear in the 21st Century (p. 83)