Is it possible for the future to exist?

[daisya]

I wondered if it's just a matter of belief or not or is there any proof even the tiniest piece, that the future is out there? What do others think or know, if the past has been and we have proof as much as there is of it and the present is now and happening, then isn't the future there ready and waiting to happen? How could we tell if it is or is it all just a guessing game?

[derekgprior]

Thinking about my last answer - the future must exist or everything would just come to a full sto

[Nibble]

If you want to see the future, stand on Little Diomede Island, Alaska looking east, Great Diomede Island is 2.5kms away, but on other side of International Date Line, hence in the future. Ta-Da!

[stickywicket]

It seems to me that the future exists as a potential, nothing is set to happen, only what can happen due to decisions and events that are, or have, happened.
Imagine looking to buy a house, one of two decisions is going to be made, buy or not buy, the decision will be made due to what ever happened to put you in the housing market in the first place.
At that point of decision two possible futures exist; maybe they continue to exist side by side, so to speak once a course of action has been decided, I couldn't say.
I like to imagine a large lump of playdoh, the possibilities for shaping it are endless; put it in the playdoh press and the mishapen lump becomes a shape depending on what pattern is chosen.
As for predicting the future, it seems that we can to a certain extent for a short range prediction in the same way that the brain can predict where a ball is going to be and put your hand out to catch it.
Nostradamus and others like him may well have predicted the future with perfect accuracy but as soon as someone acted to change a predicted event then everything that happened after it would change. Could explain why long range predictions seem very obscure.