“PERSONS PRETENDING TO FORECAST THE FUTURE SHALL BE CONSIDERED DISORDERLY UNDER SUBDIVISION 3, SECTION 901 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE AND LIABLE TO A FINE OF $250 AND/OR SIX MONTHS IN PRISON.”

New York State Code of Criminal Procedure

This New York state law, which dates back to the turn of the century, was originally applied to fortune tellers, astrologers and palm readers. Interestingly, the courts have defined a fortune teller as “one who attempts to foretell or predict the future” or as “one who claims to have some professed means of calling up the secrets of the future.” But while any reputable futurist will tell you that she doesn’t predict the future, science is helping us get one step closer to understanding how people “see” future events.

In particular, a recent study by researchers at Washington University used MRI imaging to identify specific areas of the brain that are active in helping people develop images of future events. The study, Neural Substrates of Envisioning the Future, looked at one of the qualities researchers believe is unique to humans - the ability to create a mental picture of events that have not yet happened.?

The BBC reports that “the researchers placed 21 volunteers into the MRI machine, then contrasted the scan results when they were asked to imagine vividly future events and recollect past memories. The resulting images showed clear differences between a birthday already experienced, and a birthday yet to come. When looking ahead, three particular areas of the brain were activated - the left lateral premotor cortex, the left precuneus and the right posterior cerebellum. These brain areas are already known to be involved in the imagining of body movements, suggesting that when the human brain is thinking about the future, it does so in terms of distinct movements and actions that will happen at that point.”

Reading the study, my brain was in overdrive considering the implications - will scientists be able to develop anphysical metric for quantifying a person’s future-thinking abilityWill we one day be able to electrochemically enhance that ability?

My good friend and colleague, renowned futurist Wendy Shultz, suggests that our knowledge about the future comes from:

our understanding and interpretation of past experience;

our observation of the trends and emerging issues occurring in the present, particularly those in the social and technological arenas;

our assumptions - our ideas and beliefs - about what will happen

I agree with Wendy and would argue that our ideas about what could - and should - happen is the most important factor in expanding (or diminishing) our knowledge of the future. In other words, our ability to “know” the future is directly proportional to our capability - as individuals, organizations and societies - to see and accept change, and to imagine different possibilities.

With advances in the rapidly emerging field of brain imaging - and an open mind - perhaps soon we’ll be able to “see” the future a lot more clearly.