Michigan Regulates Psychics. Want to Predict if Futurists are Next?

I don't think futurists could ever be compared to psychics, but anytime a government starts regulating people who base their livelihoods on the future, it's worth taking a look. Exhibit A, the government of Warren, Michigan just passed a law that requires fortune tellers to register, get fingerprinted and submit to a background check to run their businesses. According to the article in TIME, the measure is meant to reduce fraud, but interestingly:

"other observers, peering into their own crystal balls, see new worries. Michael Steinburg, of the Michigan branch of the ACLU, suggests Warren's policy may jeopardize those practicing yoga or predicting the weather. "It makes it illegal to say incantations to give good luck without having a license," he tells TIME. The ACLU has defended the free-speech rights of Maryland fortune teller Nick Nefedro, who won his case in June to operate a shop in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. (In that case, the judge even challenged a common stereotype: "We are not, however, persuaded that all fortune telling is fraudulent," Clayton Greene Jr. wrote.)"

I'm not a lawyer, but the "predicting the weather" aspect certainly falls into the science-based projecting that many futurists embrace, not to mention thousands of 6 o'clock weathermen. If any attorneys out there would like to chime in, I'm sure I speak for the crowd when I say your thoughts are welcome.

On the PR side of the equation, fields that embrace regulation tend to enjoy greater standing and respect among the public. Now, the article points out that "about 1 in 7 Americans consulted a psychic or fortune teller in 2009," so it's not as if psychics are hurting for business. But could their credibility with everyone else be enhanced by such measures?

I'd like to say absolutely, but it might count as a prediction.