The term prediction that concerns us now must be said to have its etymological origin in Latin. It comes from the word "praedictio", which is the result of the sum of three clearly defined components:
• The prefix “pre-”, which means “before”.
• The verb "decire", which is synonymous with "say."
• The suffix “-tion”, which indicates “action and effect”.
Prediction It is an expression that anticipate what is supposed to happen . You can predict something from scientific knowledge, surveys of some kind, hypothesis or hints.
For example: "My prediction is that the home team will win two to zero", "According to economists' predictions, the unemployment rate will rise to 18% before June", "I can't believe it: the visionary's prediction was fulfilled!".
In the field of science , a prediction is a anticipation of what will happen according to the analysis of the existing conditions. It is common for predictions to arise after experiments or investigations that allow us to know the conditions and estimate that, if repeated, the result will be the same.
The scientific predictions However, they are not always fulfilled since there are usually unknown or other variables whose dynamics cannot be accurately anticipated. Therefore, the weather predictions They are not accurate and may be wrong, to name a case.
It must be established that, therefore, scientific predictions can never be totally reliable, since various difficulties play an important role in them. Among these are from unknown dynamics to hidden variables that are not known.
The parapsychologists and the clairvoyants , on the other hand, appeal to pseudosciences to make predictions. These people they say they have the possibility of knowing future from perceptions that they receive for senses that are not the usual five (sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch). There are also subjects who claim to receive information from higher entities (such as gods ) to make your predictions.
In these cases, the predictions have no logical support, so believing in them is usually a matter of faith or depend on the susceptibility of the person.
Within that cited pseudoscience we would have to expose that there are various modalities or disciplines. Thus, we can find the following:
• Mentalism. Halfway between illusionism, magic and philosophical theory is that.
• Prophecy. Since ancient times there is this pseudoscientific modality that is carried out by people who consider themselves to have a natural “gift” to be able to make all kinds of predictions and predictions about the future. The prophecies can be found both in the form of urban legend and even in the field of religion.
• Clairvoyance. It is carried out by men and women who claim to have an extrasensory capacity that allows them to have and receive information about events that will take place in the future. Hence they make their predictions without any scientific evidence and without technical means of any kind.
• Fortune telling. This type of pseudoscience is carried out by individuals who say they have a totally hypothetical ability to predict the future.
