Reverse Causality

odonnell

As i was reading through the monthly New Scientist i picked out an article i thought may be interesting from a philosophical perspective, and its a bit o a brain twister too so all the more fun!

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg19125710.900-whats-done-is-done-or-is-it.html

Obviously this has deeper roots in quantum physics and cosmology which are in themselves very interesting areas, but to stick to the philosophical - if reverse causality were proven to be possible, and that events in history could at one time be altered through future decisions - WOULD YOU?

Think about it a while.... would you really? If you would make the decision to affect history, which event would you affect and why?

davej

Even if this was proven, it would really only be an interpretation of the way things "really" are (i.e nothing to say about the way things appear, which is all we have access to). It would not affect the way we experience the world one iota.

It might be fun to use this article as a pretext to playing a "How would you alter history" game but that's about it.

davej

Oman

probably not i'd be too afraid of the conciquences(i can't spell) but i might go back to this morning and kick someone i dont like and see what he says tomorrow

odonnell

davej wrote:

Even if this was proven, it would really only be an interpretation of the way things "really" are (i.e nothing to say about the way things appear, which is all we have access to). It would not affect the way we experience the world one iota.

It might be fun to use this article as a pretext to playing a "How would you alter history" game but that's about it.

davej

and since i understood this - thats exactly why i made the thread - fun.

Besides - what they are discovering now, and proving through experiment in the fields of quantum physics and cosmology may very WELL change how we live, drastically! It may take a long time but with the onset of things like quantum computing and cold fusion (yes im a believer!) technology is sure to hit another surge in advancement. The most interesting implication from not only that article but recent findings, is that entanglement has been shown to affect instantaneously - and that means no travel time. No travel time means faster than the universal speed limit - light! THAT means, well.... we would lose count of the scientists who have been wrong about that, of course buying into Einstein...

Sorry, the point is - its another single experiment which can be placed along side hundreds of others that WILL change the way we live. Conventional physics is out the window, and with the new discoveries come philosophical and ethical issues... i thought this was an interesting one - since some day - it will have an effect.

nyarlothothep

excellent article there, very interesting implications as to how life may have come about at the end

CiDeRmAn

The problem here is, as we learn how the world around us functions on ever deeper and more profound levels, is that the possibility opens up that sometime, somewhere a guy in a lab coat could wind up doing something catastrophic, in experimenting with any number of fundamental things, from inflating a universe to creating a black hole, from runaway nanotech to man made viruses, all seem like science fiction, until you read modern science journals and see how these thing, theoretically at least are becoming understood and faster and faster practical experiments in their manipulation becoming a reality.

As for changing history, I'm a many worlds believer, if you change something in the past you create a new universe, one of the near infinite number being created at every quantum waveform collapse, as every "choice" creates a new set of answers, no need to worry about causality, the time traveller is trapped within the new universe, in fact, before changing anything consciously, his very presence has created a new universe, he may never return to his own true time, deary deary me.

Reading A. Reynolds scifi series, now on Redemption Ark, the guy is an astrophysist and has some interesting thoughts on a lot of this, including messing around with inertia, nice!

Wonder how long before ID people turn this into a proof of god?

skeptic griggsy

Interesting! And then we learn more about black holes and the multiverse theories.Which multiverse theory is more likely?

Offalycool

Philosophical science never ceases to amaze me, on the one hand everything we can comprehend can be inverted, and on the other it seems to me to be a ridicules theoretical portfolio for another grant. If I could change anything I probably would not spend 3 years studying Philosophy, having the personal benefit of taking my treasured educational experience with me in a new direction (I can keep my previous experiences!). I know it’s kind of selfish but I don’t want to interfere with humanity on a large scale knowing full well my decisions could make life worse for everybody else. I love philosophy but I’m finding it hard to secure a job.