[bluGill]

You cannot predict details of the future, but you can make enough predictions for reasonable purposes. The sun will rise in the east tomorrow. Between December and February next year it will drop below freezing, and snow. The weather will support a garden most summers (enough rain, not too hot or cold), but only if I'm planing specific plants that do well in my climate, there are some foods that will never work where I live and so I can predict the future enough to risk planting them.

Most people thinking about predicting the future are asking for either more details which we cannot give, but the trend is good enough and nobody thinks about it.

[doctorwho42]

And within your examples lie the rub, we are losing the ability to predict or rely on those weather patterns which have served our species for the past 10,000 years.

Hell, some of the largest civilization upheavals and collapses were due to localized climate disruptions (sometimes planet wide). Volcano in place (a) erupted and the temperature dropped enough to impact growing cycles, etc

[red-iron-pine]

i can buy a house because i can plan on having a job next year, and probably in the next 5 years.

i can have a kid because i can afford it, because i have a job, and my housing situation is stable

i can take time off to recover from illness because i won't get fired for being out of office for a week

i can pay for other life infrastructure like a car or a new roof because i know my pay and job is stable and i'm not going to move

i don't need to stockpile food water and ammo because the government will be mostly benevolent and effective, and disasters will be infrequent and mitigated.

i don't need to wear a bulletproof vest to go to work because my streets are reasonably safe, and i'm not going to get drafted to fight in a war.

etc. etc. etc.

[dominicrose]

I would need my family be able to live on one salary to feel safe expanding the family, or have close family that can help us.

To remove the future from the equation, the current situation at least must be able to handle it nicely.