PRE-READING QUESTIONS
Think about the following questions.
1. If you could find out the exact date that you will die, would you want to know?
2. Have you or has someone you know made an accurate and remarkable prediction? What was it?
3. If you were granted the power to see into the future, but only once, how would you use it?

AN INSIGHT INTO THE FUTURE

Divination, also called fortune-telling, is the attempt to discover future events through mystical¹ methods. One common method of divination, found in both Eastern and Western cultures, is palm reading. Through palm reading, a person hopes to find out his or her fate, or future circumstances. Through seemingly arbitrary interpretations of the lines on the palm of the hand, a palm reader claims to be able to foretell² a person's life span, financial success, and romantic relationships, among other things. Although there is no proven connection between the lines on the palm of a hand and a person's future, palm reading remains popular, along with other divination practices. Some of these other practices include predicting the future through astrology (analyzing the effect of stars and planets on our lives), tasseography (reading used tea leaves), and numerology (analyzing the secret meanings of numbers).

Fortune-telling has a long history. Its earliest historical examples date from circa 4,000 BCE. Kings and other rulers relied on divination at that time and for thousands of years after. Chinese emperors, for instance, routinely relied on consultations with astrologers³ and other fortunetellers for important matters. Chinese court astrologers constantly looked for signs that foretold the future, seeking influence and security at court. Divination was used to diagnose illnesses, predict what would happen in battle, interpret dreams, and promote soldiers. In the second century BCE, Qin emperor Shi Huangdi ordered a huge, empire-wide book burning. The point was to end challenges to his policies based on the thinkers of the past. But books on medicine and divination were preserved.

Divination probably remained important well into modern times because of our relative lack of control over the world. Even those in the highest positions were still subject to natural disasters, for example. The scientific causes of events like plagues⁴ or storms were not clearly understood. Divination provided a sense of control over life. If a person had some clues about the future, that person might feel empowered to at least make some preparations. A farmer could plan for future harvests, and a ruler could plan for a war, for example.

Since it could not be disproved, and any failure in the prediction could be blamed on the person making the prediction, it was easy for people of earlier cultures to believe in divination. This, however, raises the question of why divination practices should still be so popular in the age of modern science. We have achieved a considerable understanding of, if not mastery⁵ over, the environment. We are no longer totally at the mercy of the natural world. There does not seem to be any obvious, rational need for mysticism to give the world a sense of order. Even so, human life is still fragile⁶. People still get sick, hurt themselves, and die. They still suffer from financial and emotional problems and worry about what the future will bring. One thing that has not changed since ancient times is that the future remains uncertain, and we have not outgrown our curiosity about it.

Today, new technology and advances in science have allowed us to predict a wide range of phenomena-from life expectancy for individuals to earthquakes and the movement of celestial⁷ bodies. Nonetheless, the simple fact that we do not know precisely what will happen in the next week, month, or year adds uncertainty to our lives. Many people will do whatever is within their means to gain more certainty and security in their lives, and will often settle for the illusion thereof⁸. In this sense, economists, financial analysts, business consultants, and even sports journalists are all in the business of selling insight into the future-some with accuracy comparable to that of fortunetellers. Divination, in all its forms, fulfills the same basic human need: the need to feel secure.

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• make predictions
• divination methods
• military decisions
• feel safe
• individual lives

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Technology: The Modern Divination?

Generations past have used divination as a means of predicting the future. Modern technology has now advanced enough to analyze historical patterns systematically. Often, scientists can use such data to predict certain outcomes with highly accurate results.

Healthcare is one area in which science has taken over for mysticism. Many different types of divination were used in the past to predict future health. Today, physicians and other healthcare professionals use an evidence-based approach. Relying on scientific research, physicians can use factors such as age and sex, family history, and lifestyle to predict the probability of future health issues. And recent advances in genetic science have gone a step further. Through “carrier screening", couples can determine whether they carry genes that may cause certain diseases in their future children. People can also have tests done on their own-or their children's-DNA for information about risks for later health problems, including heart disease and cancer.

Weather forecasting is another example. In recent times, we have relied on meteorologists to analyze historical data and weather maps to make predictions, with mixed results. Now software companies like Israel's Meteo-Logic are updating the process. Meteo-Logic uses computer programs to analyze much larger sets of data and upload information from local points, much like GPS maps update information about road conditions. According to the company, this allows faster, more accurate, and more detailed forecasts.