Have you ever wondered what our future islike?Practically all people _1_ a desire to predict theirfuture _2_.Most people seem inclined to _3_ this taskusing causal reasoning.First we _4_ recognize thatfuture circumstances are _5_ caused or conditioned bypresent ones.We learn that getting an education will_6_ how much money we earn later and thatswimming beyond the reef may bring an unhappy _7_with a shark.Second,people also learn that such _8_ of cause and effect areprobabilistic in nature.That is,the effects occur more often when the causesoccur than when the causes are _9_, but not always.Thus,students learn thatstudying hard _10_ good grades in most instances,but not every time.Science makesthese concepts of causality and probability more _11_ and provides techniques fordealing _12_ then more accurately than does causal human inquiry.In looking atordinary human inquiry,we need to _13_ between prediction andunderstanding.Often,even if we don't understand why,we are willing to act _14_ thebasis of a demonstrated predictive ability.Whatever the primitive drives _15_motivate human beings,satisfying them depends heavily on the ability to_16_futurecircumstances.The attempt to predict is often played in a _17_ of knowledge andunderstanding.If you can understand why certain regular patterns _18_,you canpredict better than if you simply observe those patterns.Thus,human inquiry aims_19_ answering both "what" and "why" question,and we pursue these _20_ byobserving and figuring out.
