Abstract
Much like war, contemporary business is filled with risk and uncertainty (Knight 1921). Ambiguity is often times the grey area that hovers between what is risky and what is uncertain (Ellsberg 2001; Fox and Tversky 1995). In cases of battles, when the fog disappears combatants can see with much clarity and make informed decisions.
Imagine a battle taking place in World War II. The fog of war creates ambiguity. It clouds an important reality of war: enemies are somewhere, but we don’t know where they are, and have no further information about them. In such a case, we are dealing with a matter of uncertainty. When the fog disappears, the issue of uncertainty dissipates and combatants now have to make a decision based on risk analysis.
New technologies helped see through the fog of war during World War II. For instance, the invention of radar helped identify the location of enemy aircrafts that were not visible to the naked eye.
In recent years, science and technology have helped humanity find clarity on what is explainable and what is not yet explainable. Humans developed theories in order to have the predictive ability to see through what is unclear.