The Future is What You Know

[Rade]

I would like to offer the proposition for discussion that the "future is what you know" and see where such a statement could be considered a true statement.

 

For example, I think all will agree that it is in the future that the sun will raise above the horizon of the earth tomorrow. I think we all have seen this physical event. Now, I claim that I "know" that the sun will raise tomorrow. And, more importantly, my claim of knowledge of the future can be falsified via observation after the sun sets today. Of course, let me make it clear, all claims of knowledge must (100% probability) be with some degree of uncertainty. So, my claim that "the future is what I know" logically must come with a degree of uncertainty, same as any claim of knowledge, for there is no such thing as pure knowledge of anything. So sure, the sun could go supernova tonight, thus my claim of knowledge of the future would be falsified. But, I would put the probability that my claim of knowledge of the future sun raising event is true at a 99.99999999999999999999999999999 % probability, more than any claim of knowledge made by QED theory for the measured magnetic moment of the electron, which is very good indeed (OK, maybe I added a few to many 9s).

 

Now, after the future sun raising event occurs, it will be in my past. And, there is much that I do not know about any past event of the sun raising. I do not know the temperature of the sun when it crossed the horizon, I do know how many atoms are present, I mean--there is almost nothing I know about this past event, other than I knew that it would occur in my future and that it did in fact occur.

 

Now, one also can claim that the future is what you do not know. Clearly this is true for all events never previously experienced, but equally clear, it is a false statement for events previously experienced such as the raising of the sun.

 

So, I need to make a modification of the OP claim:

 

The future is what you know that has been previously experienced, while at the same time (in the present), the future is what you do not know that has never been experienced.

 

Thus, the future is a dialectic, it is both what you know and what you do not know. Same can be said for the past.

 

OK, fire away.

[ronthepon]

What you predict will happen tomorrow is... just prediction.

 

I'd say that the 'future' as of now, does not actually exist (if you don't believe in fate, that is). Anything that would exist now would probably be subject to some sort of a change, would that knowledge be real and available.

If, however you do believe in fate, then the future does exist, and the knowledge of it cannot ever be available to us, thus it's not a concept we can actually use anyway.

 

What we call 'future' is the time line, and the events that would have occurred later.

 

We do predictions of the future, but we cannot possibly know it.

 

Was that corny?

[Rade]

What you predict will happen tomorrow is... just prediction....

We do predictions of the future, but we cannot possibly know it.

Thanks for the reply. A prediction assumes some "error" in the statement about the future. I have defined "to know" as a claim that always (100% of time) has an error, an uncertainty of what you claim you know. Thus, if the "future" is a prediction statement with error, then the statement that you "know the future" is nothing more than making a prediction with error about the future. Thus, if you claim you cannot know the future (never), then what you are claiming is that you can never make a prediction about the future, which is clearly false.

 

For example, make a prediction about how many angles will be present in the next triangle you will observe in the future. Would you not claim that you "know" that the next triangle you observe in the future will have 3 angles ? As I said in OP, you can make this claim of knowledge of the future because you have previous experience with triangles. This raises an interesting question, can you claim with 100% certainty that you "know" that the next triangle you will observe in the future will have 3 angles ?