Retrocausality: Cause After Effect

Could something in the future alter the past, so that effect came before cause? Does quantum mechanics truly allow this, as often hinted?

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Credits:
Retrocausality: Cause After Effect
Episode 461a; August 25, 2024
Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images

[spiffygonzales]

That time travel joke was so good I had to go back ten seconds to hear it again! :D

[metta]

Me liking the video caused it to be uploaded.

[InventiveHarvest]

It's tricky for the future to affect the present, but expectations of the future affect the present all the time. For example, if you are saving money, you are expecting that you will not die tomorrow.

[DaveTucker-ippg]

I liked this video before i watched it cause I knew I would love it

[jonbezeau]

I read a book by a couple of psychotherapists where one theme was that people's biographies only make sense in reverse

[animistchannel]

This episode is so good, it made me watch the show for the last 8 years!

...well, there will also be that amazing "interdimensional periscopes" episode in 2030, which will still be keeping me watching until then.

[rayhume]

I have to seriously disagree with you about retro causality being most common in science fiction. It is much much more common in politics.

[markmartin]

As Joey would say “Your point is moo.” We live in a block universe where everything has already happened. If time travel was possible it would create havoc for the patent office

[DanielGenis]

Isaac, this is exactly the show I look forward to twice every week… I can’t believe you haven’t been scooped up by a larger outlet to do what Michio Kaku or the other guy do- explain this stuff to layman audience. Or at least publish a book; you have a built in customer base through this show! That being said, your current operation has evolved into a robust one! Cheers!

[angryohare]

Dude, literally right before I clicked on this video I was speculating how Fate/Stay-Night's interpretation of the "Gae-Bolg" spear, a spear that reverses causality ("the heart is pierced, so the spear must have been thrust" instead of "the spear is thrust, the heart is pierced) would interact with various characters lol.

[SpecialEDy]

Yet here I am, from the Quantum Chimichanga Reality, sitting here watching an Isaac Arthur video from the Quantum Cheeseburger timeline...

[anoble]

Boy I was expecting a much more noticeable speech challenge. If I hadn't been listening to you for many years; I wouldn't have known you had one. Even before any therapy at all I didn't think much about it. Now, if not mentioned by yourself, I'd have forgotten you ever had an issue. Keep up the awesome videos!

[daniel]

Interesting timing. Just had the worst nightmare where I played a game in VR and eventually found a note I had written to myself but couldn't possibly have written, something that resulted in a panic attack so strong that I was actually screaming as I woke up. Have no idea why that would cause such a reaction, don't think I would have responded like that in real life, but in the dream it was terrifying. And I remember believing in the dream that the note must have come from the future. All the note said was "Join us. CRISPR. And my signature".

[Cosmosisification]

When I watched my first Isaac Arthur video, it was recommended to me by a friend that isn't really that into sci-fi stuff but she knew I was. I watched a video and went back to her and said "Yeah I liked it. The impediment takes a little getting used to though" and she looked at me and said "Oh? I found it soothing 🤷"

And idk what wizard Jedi voodoo magic she cast on me, but ever since then, your voice and cadence have been one of the most relaxing things in my life. Sometimes if you release a video I know I'm not gonna care about that much, I'll still put it on just to listen to you talk.

Not only that, but it makes you easily discernable from others as well. Friend, you might be doing the one single job that actually turns your curse into a blessing.

[Silverlightlive]

I was writing a book with a time travel paradox in it, and I couldn't figure out how to resolve it. You made this documentary just after I had the thought of making it retroactive, so perfectly done Issac! You're always amazing to listen to!

[IbexWatcher]

Finally I see someone else acknowledging how changes would occur at the quantum level during time travel! I've had this same idea lately and it occurred to me how strange it is that it's not discussed often in time travel discourse (similar to how accounting for the movement of cosmic bodies wasn't considered in pop culture discourse until recently)

[flipmarley]

That's crazy, "retrocausality" randomly popped into my head last night

[claudiaarjangi]

I think the idea of travelling through wormholes/ dimensions etc, doesnt take the fact that all "particles" arent seperate.
They are a part of an already wavefunction of the universe.
They are created by the interaction of their fields.
So if you jumped outside this universe,
( where the fields arent ) you would instantly cease to exist.
Ir if you went through a wormhole, you are trying to take the fields interactions ( your particles ) from one universe time-segment into a time that is already -packed with its own field interactions.
Its already a complete universe.
Its like trying to take a drawing off the paper its drawn on.

[spiffygonzales]

You seriously worry about your speech too much. It's honestly a staple of the channel at this point and I think I'd miss it if you got rid of it. 👌

[Projectdarke]

Just don't ever never mess with time travel, it always gets weird.
Unless someone else invents a time machine, then you have to go back in time and make sure they don't invent it...