Changing the Past: The Advantages of Backward in Time Causation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv2016iss7pp7-22Keywords:
Retrocausation, quantum mechanics, non-locality, explanationAbstract
Since its inception, quantum mechanics has faced a series of “mysteries” that emerge from it if we consider this scientific theory from a realistic point of view. In the early development of the theory, scientists like Albert Einstein noticed the consequences of accepting a theory like this, which allow phenomena such as non-locality. This led a part of the scientific community to believe that quantum mechanics was an incomplete theory, since there should be variables that might explain those “disturbing” phenomena such as the correlation between entangled particles.
Different interpretations of quantum mechanics have been proposed that have tried to reveal or explain the reality underlying its formalism. One of those interpretations is the “Transactional Interpretation” of quantum mechanics, advocated mainly by physicist John G. Cramer. According to this interpretation, quantum events are understood as causal interactions between delayed waves traveling forward in time and advanced waves traveling backward in time. This interpretation opens the door to accept a model of causation to the past or retrocausation.
Authors like Phil Dowe or Huw Price have shown a favorable attitude toward the model of retrocausation because it seems to be capable of effectively solve some of the most disturbing features derived from quantum mechanics. Despite the intuitive cost is rather high, retrocausation is one of the possible interpretations for the results of the correlation between entangled particles to provide us with an explanatory framework with some interesting advantages.
In this paper we explore such advantages, as the retrocausation gives us a generalizable explanatory model for all cases of this type and assumes processes and entities that are not only in the field of speculation but allow certain possibilities of testing. Also, we will rescue the importance of not-predictive explanatory models as has been the case in other fields of natural sciences, provided that those model do not be ad hoc due to restrictions that prevent its application to any case.
References
ASPECT, Alain & GRANGIER, Philippe & ROGER, Gérard (1981). "Experimental Tests of Realistic Local Theories via Bell’s Theorem" en Physical Review Letters. 47 (7): 460–463.
BELL, John (1964). "On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox" en Physics, 1 (3): 195–200.
CRAMER, John 1(986). "The Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" en Reviews of Modern Physics, 58: 647–687.
CRAMER, John (1998). "An Overview of the Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" en International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 27: 227–236.
DOWE, Phil (1997). "A Defense of Backward-in-Time Causation Models in Quantum Mechanics" en Synthese, 112: 233–246.
DOWE, Phil (2000). Physical Causation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
EINSTEIN, Albert & PODOLSKY, Boris & ROSEN, Nathan (1935). "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?" en Physical Review, 47 (10): 777–780.
NÚÑEZ PRADENAS, Rolando (2012). "Consideraciones epistemológicas sobre la retrocausación" en Velasco, M. y Venturelli, N. (Eds.) Epistemología e Historia de la ciencia. Selección de trabajos de las XXII Jornadas de Epistemología e Historia de la Ciencia, 18: 412–429.
NÚÑEZ PRADENAS, Rolando (2014). "Cognición corporeizada, tipos de causación y mecánica cuántica" en Hernán Miguel (Eds.) Explicación, Causación y Contrafácticos. Buenos Aires, Editorial Prometeo: 61–78.
PRICE, Huw (1996). Time ́s Arrow and Archimedes ́s Point. New York: Oxford University Press.
PENROSE, Roger (2006). El camino a la realidad. Barcelona: Debate.
REICHENBACH, Hans (1999). The Direction of Time. New York: Dover Publications.
ZEH, Heinz-Dieter (2001). The Physical Basis of The Direction of Time. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work after publication simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
