The Future

The Future (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future)

In a linear conception of time, the future is the portion of the time line that has yet to occur, i.e. the place in space-time where lie all events that still will or may occur. In this sense the future is opposed to the past (the set of moments and events that have already occurred) and the present (the set of events that are occurring now).

The future has always had a special place in philosophy and, in general, in the human mind. The future holds such a place because human beings want a forecast of events that will occur. The evolution of the human brain is in great part an evolution in cognitive abilities necessary to forecast the future, i.e. abstract imagination, logic and induction. Imagination permits us to “see” (i.e. predict) a plausible model of a given situation without observing it, therefore, allowing one to assess risks. Logical reasoning allows one to predict consequences of actions and situations and therefore gives useful information about future events. Induction permits the association of a cause with consequences, a fundamental notion for every forecast of the future.