Why do humans want to know the future?
From ancient times, people have been interested in divination practices such as astrology, I Ching, dowsing, tarot, runes, numerology and so on. Why? One obvious reason is to know the future. Why? From the evolutionary perspective, for survival purposes. It makes sense. Nowadays, most people feel secure in this left-brain domain, so why are they still interested in astrology and future divination? Is it just an unconscious reflex? Superstition? Habit? Or something else. Neuroscience has one suggestion: to avoid uncertainty.
Astrology and divination were developed to avoid uncertainty
Studies have shown that we spend 24 per cent of our time thinking about the future, compared to just 5 per cent recalling the past (O’Mara, 2023). Anticipating the future is more important than learning from the past, hence the popularity of astrology and other divination systems.