Is our furture already set? The predictions seem to be largley about bad tragic things tha happen. Plane crash, war, end of world. Could this be because of the loss of life itself some how cause a change to the time stream.
2007-03-17 04:51:09 · 9 answers · asked by alone 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Your two hidden assumptions are that will is absolutely free, and that predictions are completely accurate. These are false biases.
The will is not free, because it is influenced by past learning, memories and events. It is conditioned, so that people act pretty close to a certain pattern most of the time, with some degree of freedom to vary the routine.
Predictions, except for those based on repeatable scientific experiments regarding things like relativity or gravity, are not generally 100% precise or accurate. .
So instead of a black-white duality of absolutes, will and the ability to somewhat see the future are spectrums like the electromagnetic spectrum, with ranges of magnitude. This allows for us to be less than completely predetermined, and somewhat able to foresee and influence our futures.
At least, that seems consistent with how things work. I am not speaking of fortune telling or psychic prediction, keep in mind, but ordinary prognostications that we all do.
2007-03-17 05:05:57 · answer #1 · answered by DinDjinn 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
They are called predictions.....it doesn't mean they will actually happen. Think about it, you can almost bet that at least one plane will crash in the next 20 years or so, so basically any crackpot can say that a plane is going to crash. Our world is constantly in and out of wars too. So someone says there will be a major war, thats kind of broad isnt it? That war could be anywhere...... I mean its pretty safe to say that there will be a war at some point in the next 20 years too. Now the end of the world thing has been a prediction since the middle ages. People then were saying the end of the world was coming in their life time.....did it? You have to really stop and think about the things you are reading instead of just believing some idiot that decided to write predictions to future world events. Whose to say that person isn't a mental patient in an institution somewhere? I can almost guarantee you that this person has absolutely no psychic ability and probably works for some idiotic newspaper like "National Enquirer" or something. Don't believe everything you read or hear.
I do agree with the guy just above me though, that we are influenced by past actions and experiences from our ancestors. We do have free will though, it is just influenced by our history. We have the past actions, experiences and consequences of our forefathers as an influence for us as wee choose our own fate. Free will is there, but we are influenced by the past. We can still choose if we are going to follow our forefathers, or take a different direction and change our future.
Its a lot more difficult to make positive predictions than negative ones as well. You don't see people make positive predictions about the future do you?
2007-03-17 05:06:51 · answer #2 · answered by mommasquarepants 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think a lot of people, when they point out (rightly) that predictions tend to be bogus, are missing an important point.
If I went back in time to the day before JFK's assassination, I could predict that he would die in Dallas. Assuming I didn't interfere in any way (and that no other time traveller did), I'd be right. JFK would die in Dallas. We only really have free will in the sense that we can't predict our own futures. Before he was assassinated, Kennedy almost certainly believed that if he wanted to, he could decide not to go to Dallas. But he couldn't. All the circumstances---the atoms colliding in his body, in his surroundings, all the electrical impulses in his brain---everything led to him going to Dallas and to his being shot.
In other words, one person's future is another person's past, and if the latter can't change their past, then the former can't change their future either.
2007-03-19 09:51:44 · answer #3 · answered by garik 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is an interesting comment found in the Bible, Isaiah 57:15 that says, "Thus saith the High and Lofty One that INHABITS ETERNITY ..." God does not say much about Himself in the Bible in a personal manner. What is often said makes little sense to us anyway. But in places He does expose what He is, whether it makes sense to us or not. The concept of inhabiting eternity makes no sense, but then an instantaneous creation of our universe does not either. So, He opens Himself to ridicule, but that ridicule does not change reality. St. John saw the battle of Armageddon even though it has not taken place yet. In that God already exists there, it is "natural" that He be able to inform another what already exists to Himself.
2007-03-17 05:31:42 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
As somebody else suggested, God's plan for us is almost a street map, a mentioned perfect course to take for our very own happiness & our very own stable, to get the main delight & fulfillment from existence. it continues to be as much as us to be open to take that advice & see the place it takes us, or no longer- it is our loose will. it is like telling somebody for his or her very own protection when you consider which you care approximately them to no longer return and forth down a particular street because of the fact it extremely is frequently going on to be risky & prepare them yet another course it is safer & extra friendly. It nevertheless ought to be that individual's determination- they have been shown the perfect plan & warned in improve, so in the event that they prefer to overlook approximately it, they have not have been given anybody in charge for the implications yet themselves. The present of loose will could be used actual—in the limitations of tangible, ethical, and non secular regulations from God. in any different case, harm outcomes, in basic terms as actual as harm will ensue whilst a guy jumps off the roof of a tall development with out regard for the regulation of gravity.
2016-10-02 06:56:55 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If "cause and effect" is absolutely true then all events are caused by everything that preceded. If "cause and effect" is not absolutely true, then some events are random. The only other option is that "God" has a few things to teach us in eternity, when we shall be able to "fully know," as we are "fully known."
2014-12-14 09:57:03 · answer #6 · answered by CORNEY 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Future is not set. Thats why they are called predictions and not oracles.
2007-03-17 05:02:43 · answer #7 · answered by ramshi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because human behaviour is predictable.
2007-03-17 15:16:20 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because those predictions are bogus
2007-03-17 04:59:41 · answer #9 · answered by biggiesmartypants 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋