Can I predict the future?
There are ordinary people among us who are exceptionally good at predicting the future. We delve into the science behind 鈥渟uper-forecasting鈥.
Humans have been trying to predict the future since ancient times. The Chinese had the I-Ching while the Greeks preferred to search for answers in animal entrails. These days intelligence agencies around the world mostly rely on expert opinions to forecast events. But there are ordinary people among us that routinely outperform experts when it comes to making accurate predictions about the future.
Listener Cicely wants to know whether these non-experts, so-called 鈥渟uper-forecasters鈥, really exist and if so, how does it work? She has noticed that people in her family 鈥 herself included 鈥 are surprisingly good at predicting events.
CrowdScience investigates and finds that there is no hocus-pocus involved. On the contrary, scientists have found that super-forecasters tend to have certain personality traits and skills. And there is more good news; researchers believe that these skills can been taught.
CrowdScience presenter Graihagh Jackson takes up the challenge and tests her own predicting abilities.
Presented by Graihagh Jackson and produced by Louisa Field
(Photo: A barefoot woman on a beach, showing two lucky dices in her hands. Credit: Getty Images)
Last on
Clip
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How overcoming biases can help you predict the future
Duration: 02:16
Broadcasts
- Fri 9 Aug 2019 19:32GMT91热爆 World Service except South Asia
- Sat 10 Aug 2019 23:32GMT91热爆 World Service
- Mon 12 Aug 2019 04:32GMT91热爆 World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 12 Aug 2019 05:32GMT91热爆 World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Mon 12 Aug 2019 06:32GMT91热爆 World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Mon 12 Aug 2019 10:32GMT91热爆 World Service West and Central Africa
- Mon 12 Aug 2019 13:32GMT91热爆 World Service Australasia
- Mon 12 Aug 2019 17:32GMT91热爆 World Service South Asia
Podcast
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CrowdScience
Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe