K Pax planetarium

[Pigeon]

[Royal]

Great scene. But a cheesy scene.

[Pigeon]

Interstellar docking

[Pigeon]

A Causal Loop is a theoretical proposition in which, by means of either retrocausality or time travel, a sequence of events (actions, information, objects, people) is among the causes of another event, which is in turn among the causes of the first-mentioned event.

Such causally looped events then exist in spacetime, but their origin cannot be determined.

Causal Loop

[Pigeon]

Newcomb Paradox

Newcomb Paradox

There are a predictor, a player, and two boxes designated A and B. The player is given a choice between taking only box B, or taking both boxes A and B. The player knows the following:

Box A is clear, and always contains a visible $1,000.

Box B is opaque, and its content has already been set by the predictor:

If the predictor has predicted the player will take both boxes A and B, then box B contains nothing.
If the predictor has predicted that the player will take only box B, then box B contains $1,000,000.

The player does not know what the predictor predicted or what box B contains while making their choice.

What about Causal Loops?

William Lane Craig has suggested that, in a world with perfect predictors (or time machines, because a time machine could be used as a mechanism for making a prediction), retrocausality can occur. If a person truly knows the future, and that knowledge affects their actions, then events in the future will be causing effects in the past.

The chooser's choice will have already caused the predictor's action. Some have concluded that if time machines or perfect predictors can exist, then there can be no free will and choosers will do whatever they're fated to do. Taken together, the paradox is a restatement of the old contention that free will and determinism are incompatible, since determinism enables the existence of perfect predictors.

Put another way, this paradox can be equivalent to the grandfather paradox; the paradox presupposes a perfect predictor, implying the "chooser" is not free to choose, yet simultaneously presumes a choice can be debated and decided. This suggests to some that the paradox is an artifact of these contradictory assumptions.

[Royal]

A Causal Loop is a theoretical proposition in which, by means of either retrocausality or time travel, a sequence of events (actions, information, objects, people) is among the causes of another event, which is in turn among the causes of the first-mentioned event.

Such causally looped events then exist in spacetime, but their origin cannot be determined.

Causal Loop

Thanks for posting about this. You found the concept/term I been looking for when thinking about events for years:

Retrocausality, or backwards causation, is a concept of cause and effect in which an effect precedes its cause in time and so a later event affects an earlier one.

[Royal]

Newcomb Paradox

Newcomb Paradox

There are a predictor, a player, and two boxes designated A and B. The player is given a choice between taking only box B, or taking both boxes A and B. The player knows the following:

Box A is clear, and always contains a visible $1,000.

Box B is opaque, and its content has already been set by the predictor:

If the predictor has predicted the player will take both boxes A and B, then box B contains nothing.
If the predictor has predicted that the player will take only box B, then box B contains $1,000,000.

The player does not know what the predictor predicted or what box B contains while making their choice.

What about Causal Loops?

William Lane Craig has suggested that, in a world with perfect predictors (or time machines, because a time machine could be used as a mechanism for making a prediction), retrocausality can occur. If a person truly knows the future, and that knowledge affects their actions, then events in the future will be causing effects in the past.

The chooser's choice will have already caused the predictor's action. Some have concluded that if time machines or perfect predictors can exist, then there can be no free will and choosers will do whatever they're fated to do. Taken together, the paradox is a restatement of the old contention that free will and determinism are incompatible, since determinism enables the existence of perfect predictors.

Put another way, this paradox can be equivalent to the grandfather paradox; the paradox presupposes a perfect predictor, implying the "chooser" is not free to choose, yet simultaneously presumes a choice can be debated and decided. This suggests to some that the paradox is an artifact of these contradictory assumptions.

This provides some good brain food. Thank you!

[Royal]

Interstellar docking

Love this scene. Utilizing AI to save oneself.

BTW, where is Watson?

[Pigeon]

BTW, where is Watson?

He ran off with Siri. There is a terminator searching for him.

[Royal]

Interrogating the coronavirus: