Knowing the future can certainly help in avoiding pitfalls and accomplishing all the derring-do we expect from our heroes in books. However, this ability could also be a handicap in any sort of Kobayashi Maru situation, where you could not see any possibility of victory. Given the premise that the ability to see the future means you can change the future, a no-win situation might discourage you from even trying. The ability to see the future might blind you to the possibility of a chaos factor you are unaware of, or with such a small possibility to allow Murphy to pull everything out of the fire. It would also be possible that it might blind you to the fact that defeat in the short run may lead ultimately to victory, such as in the case of the 300 Spartans.

Sometimes ignorance of the odds is the one thing that lets people achieve miraculous results. Ignorance can be bliss; too much knowledge can lead to being discouraged. I still remember the 1967 Boston Red Sox season, often called The Impossible Dream, during which the Red Sox beat 100 - 1 odds and won the pennant.

—Stephen Campbell 

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