This seem to be pretty heavy around here. And I guess thats good as philosophy is pretty haevy stuff most of the time. But sometimes its just pure fun. So just for fun I like to open a tread about the possibility of Reverse Causation!
I say the possibility specifically to try to cirumvent empistemic issues. I’m not current concered about wheather there is evidence for reverse causation or such things. Just describeing what would need be true about the universe for it to function.
In accordiance with the rules I will now give my opinion:
(Note: there are also forms of Reverse Causation that are less demanding than the personal time travel I descripe below, and perhapse more interesting.)
I think reverse causation is possible iff the universe is determined. I call this the preztle theory. Basicly, I think that determinism would give the universe the ability to “know” (for lack of a better word) that a cause will come later and therefor the effect could manafest in the present. Frex, Monday you wake up thinking, maybe I’ll go down to the lab with my friends and put together a time machine. Tuesday, you wake up to find yourslef at the front door with a case of beer. After congradulateing yourself he is off, saying “See you friday.” Friday, you finish your time machine and go get some beer to celebrate. You accidentally buy one more case of beer than your friends can drink, and decide to deliver it you yourself on tuesday. While this situation is inherently weird, I don’t think its logically impossible. One of the interesting corilliaries is that belife and personality would play a role in who can time travel. For instance if Mary was higly interested in proveing to herself she had free will then she couldn’t time travel or at least not meet herself during the trip. Because the universe would already “know” (I really need a less antropomorphic word) that if she met herself she would refuse to time travel. What exactly the mechanism would be to prevent such a meeting, I have know idea. But that seems apropriate considering I have little idea what the mechanism of time travel would be.