The Future We Chase: Why Humans Try to Predict Tomorrow-and What Endures When They Fail

Across history, human beings have searched for ways to see the future. Prophets and mystics, sacred texts and secret programs, statistical models and digital algorithms-all have promised insight into what comes next. The methods change. The desire does not.

The Future We Chase is not a book of predictions. It is an inquiry into why prediction itself exerts such power over the human imagination-and why so many attempts to master the future ultimately disappoint, distort, or deceive.
Drawing on history, theology, psychology, and systems thinking, J.J. French examines the full landscape of future-seeking. The book considers biblical prophecy and its frequent misuse; famous modern figures such as Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, and Baba Vanga, and how their reputations were constructed and sustained; government interest in unconventional methods including remote viewing; the rise of forecasting models and scenario planning; and the emergence of online ＂prediction communities＂ that blur the line between analysis and belief. Throughout, the discussion distinguishes carefully between what is documented, what is inferred, and what is imagined.
Written from the perspective of a believing Christian, this work treats Scripture as a distinct category of divine revelation-not as mythology, and not as a coded calendar waiting to be deciphered. It rejects fear-driven speculation and date-setting while affirming the Bible’s deeper purpose: to shape faithfulness, moral accountability, and hope under the sovereignty of God.

Rather than ridiculing belief or baptizing rumor with academic language, The Future We Chase approaches its subject with discipline and humility. It asks what happens to individuals and communities when certainty is promised but cannot be delivered-and what practices endure when prediction fails.
This is a book for readers who are uneasy with sensational prophecy, skeptical of manufactured certainty, and tired of being told that tomorrow can be mastered if only the right system is found. It offers no secret knowledge and no timelines. Instead, it invites a steadier posture toward the future-one grounded in prudence, discernment, faith, and proportion.
The future will arrive whether we foresee it or not. The question is not whether we can predict it, but whether we are learning how to live wisely in its shadow.