the future

Where do you even start when talking about the future. Some people would be inclined to argue that time is just a construct of the passing of one quantum moment from the next and there is no real flow or continuity other than that which we create through our fallicious belief in our own experience. Others argue that time is an integral part of nature and has nothing to do with our perception of the world. The reality of the matter is neither of these solutions, nor any other, but something which escapes our ability to name, is the truth. Human, and for that matter, any language that exists on this planet, or perhaps the universe, is incapable of such descriptive powers. There may be a time when we can explicate these ideas in such a mannor that they reach a point that they touch reality, but this will require thousands of years of further evolution in consciousness. Our current state of affairs are interesting nonetheless, as we are by far the farthest looking species on the planet (perhaps there are only a few of us that may hold this title, but all are capable of planning on any time frame, most just choose to only perceive the present).

When you make even the most mundane decisions, what am I going to have for dinner tonight, for example, each of us has a set of options available, some more intriguing than others. What is so amazing is that in the instant of contemplation, this choice, no matter how minute it is, consists of multiple futures in our minds eye that we know we can make possible (and perhaps many more which we know we cannot). Most of the time the choice takes only a split second, but during that instant and every subsequent instant there are paths which we choose to take over others. This is how all things function on the planet and in the universe. We, and many other organisms on the planet, share one basic quality with us that makes a 'living' being special, and that is an increase in the options and number of possible futures available. Because of our advanced ability in this respect, humans and those close to us in terms of conscious development can be seen as more 'free' and unbounded by the 'laws' of reality. I use the terms free and law loosely as neither are absolute.

This freedom creates difficulties. In a sense, the more freedom you have the more difficult it becomes to determine the future. Especially if you intend to predict, say, the course of human civilization, or even more troubling is attempting to gain foreknowledge of a single individuals path. If only our analytical powers and logical systems were robust enough to take into account dynamical systems of extreme complexity, but this isn't the case. Much of what I understand logic as attempting, is to create a definitive and finite understanding of reality and truth. I often wonder how this can be possible when reality has no finite or definitive explanation. As I said, eventually, through evolution and the path that humanities knowledge is taking, we will eventually have a much more powerful tool to predict our futures, both personal and shared, but until then we must make do with hints and allusions to reality and what it holds for us to come.