Group Post Sept. 11

Elsie, Meredith, Dani G, Dani D

How does the future affect the present?

https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/can-the-future-affect-our-decisions-in-the-present/

In this article, Radcliffe ponders the question about whether or not the prospect of the future can affect the present. People tend to be very critical about their present day actions affecting the future. The question is typically posed as “What can we do today to help the future?”, not so much “How does the future affect our decisions today?” It’s a similar sentiment, but the differing framework connotes something different. It suggests that people change based on experiences they haven’t lived yet.

This concept is best defined as retrocausality (or backwards causation), in which we examine cause and effect where the effect influences the time frame preceding it. Following class discussion today one can see how the idea of an imminent end to the future can have a positive effect on someone, being motivational to protect the planet and work towards making life on early safer.

https://phys.org/news/2017-07-physicists-retrocausal-quantum-theory-future.html

This article goes into depth about the ins and outs of retrocausality, and what it is and isn’t. It shouldn’t be misunderstood as a theory of time-travel, in which the future sends messages to the past. It is, however, the idea that our notions or predictions of the future will happen based on the choices we make presently. Just as some believe that history repeats itself and we can find answers to present questions by looking at the past, retrocausality believes that the actions of today and informed by an understand of the future.