RP382 Can the Future Really Be Known

 RP382 Can the Future Really Be Known?

Some say Nostradamus (1503-1566) predicted the French Revolution, the rise of Adolf Hitler, the 9/11 attacks in the United States, and George W. Bush's presidency. Others dismiss his predictions as nonsense.
His most famous work, The Prophecies (published between 1555 and 1558), contains a future history of the world up to the year 3797. His most famous predictions (though there are over 1,000 in The Prophecies) are probably the following two: "Beasts mad with hunger will swim across rivers/Most of the battle will be against Hister," and "At forty-five degrees, the sky will burn/Fire will approach the great new city."
Believers are quick to point out the similarity between "Hister" and "Hitler," convinced that Nostradamus named the infamous dictator. However, "Hister" was the ancient name for the Danube River in central Europe, and has nothing to do with Hitler. The second prophesy is supposed to be a description of 9/11, and the "new city" New York, which lies at latitude 45°. In fact, New York is at latitude 40°43', and the "new city" probably refers to Naples, whose Greek name, Neapolis, actually means "new city."
The main criticism of Nostradamus's prophecies is that they are often repetitions of past events projected into the future in the assumption that history will repeat itself. It's also convenient that he left his prophecies undated and in no particular order. It has been suggested that the famous 9/11 prophesy is a repetition of the 1139 invasion of Naples in the same year that the nearby volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted.
His general statements, their overinterpretation, and lines taken out of context have all fed the myth of Nostradamus's mystical ability to see into the future.
In 2000, after George W. Bush was elected president of the United States, a verse apparently written by Nostradamus was circulated around the Internet, predicting Bush's election. "Come the millennium, month 12/In the home of the greatest power/The village idiot will come forth/To be acclaimed the leader." Incredible accuracy! It was later revealed, however, that this was written not by the great foreseer, but rather by an Internet prankster looking for a laugh.