This was then combined with the belief that the distinction between uncertainty and risk was no longer particularly relevant. That is, the belief was that while the future was still unknowable, it was still likely to lie within the distribution of the recent past.
This was believed to be so because there supposedly had been a regime change which meant that the earlier, more volatile, period of history was no longer relevant. But how much history should be relevant? That is a difficult question to answer, although it a question which should always be asked.