Retro causality

The study of causality in philosophy goes back, at least, to the Aristotelian analysis of four causes. For a long time it was believed that the effect of the effect on its cause contained a logical contradiction ; as David Hume said, when considering two interrelated events, reason, by definition, precedes the effect of ^[4] .

In the 1950s, Michael Dummett wrote that, from a philosophical point of view, in fact, a consequence can precede reason in time ^[5] . He was objected to the philosophers Anthony Flu and Max Black . Black cited the so-called “defaulter argument” (bilking argument), according to which reverse causality is impossible, since the observer of the investigation could hinder the realization of its cause ^[6] . A more complex discussion of how the question of free will relates to questions raised by Black comes from Newcomb's paradox . Representatives of essentialism suggested other theories, for example, about the existence of "true causal power in nature" ^[7] ; they also expressed doubts about the role of induction in the theory of causality ^[8] .

Although the ability to influence the past can lead to such logical contradictions as the grandfather's paradox ^[9] , such contradictions can be overcome by imposing restrictions on the conditions of time travel, for example, through the requirement of a continuous sequence of actions from the future to the past ^[10] .

Aspects of modern physics, such as the hypothetical existence of tachyons and some time- independent aspects of quantum mechanics , may allow particles or information to travel backward in time. Yang Fei of the University of Copenhagen argues that logical objections to macroscopic time travel are not necessarily applicable to other interaction scales ^[11] . At the same time, even if reverse causality is possible, it may not be able to produce effects different from those that would result from ordinary causal relationships ^[12] .

proposed by John Wheeler and Richard Feynman uses retro causal and temporal forms of destructive interference to explain the absence of converging concentric waves , the existence of which suggests some solutions to Maxwell's equations ^[13] . These waves have nothing to do with cause and effect: it is simply a mathematical way of describing ordinary waves. The reason why this theory was proposed is that a charged particle should not act on itself, since in classical electrodynamics this leads to infinite self-power ^[14] .

Feynman, and earlier Ernst Stückelberg , proposed an interpretation of the positron as an electron moving back in time ^[15] to explain solutions of the Dirac equation that give negative energy. Electrons moving back in time have a positive electrical charge . Wheeler used the concept of retrocriticality to explain identical properties common to all electrons, assuming that “ all electrons are the same electron ” with a complex self-intersecting world line ^[16] . Yoichiro Nambu later applied retrocriticality to explain the occurrence and annihilation of all particle-antiparticle pairs, arguing that “ultimately, the occurrence and annihilation of pairs that can occur now or later is no emergence and not annihilation, but only a change in the direction of movement of particles - from the past to the future or from the future to the past ” ^[17] . At present, the retro-causal point of view is accepted for individual regions of the microworld, ^[18] but it has nothing to do with the macroscopic concepts of “cause” and “effect” that are not used in descriptions of microscopic phenomena based on fundamental interactions.

Relativity

Closed time-like curves , in which the world line of an object intersects itself, arise from some the Einstein equation . Although closed timelike curves, apparently, does not exist under normal conditions, under extreme conditions of space-time , such as the mole hole, ^[19] or in the vicinity of some cosmic strings , ^[20] they may possibly be formed, which suggests the theoretical possibility of retro causality. To date, neither the exotic matter nor the topological defects necessary for the occurrence of such extreme conditions have been recorded by observations. In addition, Stephen Hawking proposed a mechanism, which he calls the " ", which would lead to the destruction of any such closed time-like curve before it could be used ^[21] . These and other objections to the existence of closed timelike curves are not generally accepted ^[22] .

Quantum Physics

Retro causality is sometimes associated with quantum nonlocality , which arises from quantum entanglement , ^[23] including the well-known special case of a . ^[24] However, verification of non-local correlations requires a signal to be transmitted at the light speed: the does not allow information to be transmitted at a superluminal speed, and fundamental descriptions of matter and forces must be carried out within the framework of quantum field theory in which space- separated operators commute . The concepts of quantum entanglement that are not related to retrocriticality emphasize that experiments demonstrating the non-local correlation of particles can be interpreted with equal success in other reference systems, with a different order of measurement of "causes" and "consequences" that are necessary to fit the special theory of relativity ^{[25] [26]} . Nonlocal quantum entanglement can be quite described without retro causal, if the system states are properly taken into account ^[27] . The experiments of the physicist , aimed at studying various proposed methods of non-local or retro-cause quantum correlation, have so far shown the impossibility of transmitting non-local signals ^[28] .

Retro causality is also used in the in quantum mechanics, in which the current quantum state is characterized by a combination of past and future quantum states ^[29] .

Tachyons

Hypothetical superluminal particles, called tachyons , would have a spatially similar trajectory, which means they could move back in time from the point of view of observers in some reference systems. Despite the fact that in science fiction, tachyons are often portrayed as a possible means for sending messages back in time, the theory predicts that tachyons cannot interact with ordinary tardions in such a way as to violate the principle of causality. In particular, reinterpretation principle makes it impossible to build a tachyon detector capable of receiving information ^[30] .

Parapsychologist presented a quantum-mechanical rationale for reverse causality, ^[31] ultimately arguing that experiments demonstrated the ability to manipulate radioactive decay through retro-causal psychokinesis ^[32] . These results and their underlying theory were rejected by the scientific community, ^{[33] [34]} although they receive some support from representatives of marginal science ^[35] .

Attempts to show the connection of retrocause with healing by faith ^{[36] have} also been refuted by scientific methods ^[37] .

One of the experiments of psychologist discussed in an article by Richard Shoup. In the Behm experiment, the subject is shown two curtains and asked to guess which of them has a picture. Most of the results were indistinguishable from statistically probable (50%), but higher results were obtained for erotic images - 53.1% ^{[38] [39]} .

• Time perspective

• Jan Faye. Backward Causation (English) . Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2015). The appeal date is December 21, 2017.