What if mankind could predict the future? This question has haunted philosophers and science fiction writers, but we may finally have an answer.

According to mathematicians and economists we can, to a limited extent, predict the future.

Brendan Purdy, a Doctor of Mathematical Behavioral Sciences recently gave a lecture on Game Theory at Moorpark. According to Purdy Game Theory is the “mathematical analysis of variables to predict outcomes.”

So, in layman’s terms, given the right information a mathematician can predict what will happen in the future.

Game Theory does this by looking at the options that “players” have and predicting which option that they will choose.

If the player is rational, then there are usually only a limited number of options that a player will choose.

This prediction prowess has its roots in the genius of some of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century including Oskar Morgenstern, “Johnny” Von Neumann, and John Nash (Russell Crowe in “A Beautiful Mind”).

These economists and mathematicians laid the ground work for Game Theory which has now been expanded to such fields as Evolutionary Game Theory and Non-Linear Dynamics (popularly known as Chaos Theory).