The Mutable Past

It's ridiculously obvious that what we do in the present affects what happens in the future. If, for example, I don't bother to study for a test, I will probably fail it. But what seems to becoming a more and more acceptable idea is that what I will do in the future has an impact on what I am doing right now. So, for example, if I study for that test after I take it, I may end up with a higher grade.

Sound impossible? Well, Cornell psychology professor Darrel Bem thinks that he has proven that very idea.

The future, Bem says, impacts our present, somehow leaking into it and giving us clues on how to behave. In one experiment Bem conducted, students studied for a test after taking it. And, amazingly, their scores improved. In fact, he was able to improve the student's scores. In another experiment in precognition, he improved subject scores by 3.1% (as opposed to 50%, which would have been the number if the subjects had been randomly guessing at the answers.)

Although a 3.1% increase in probability may not seem like a huge leap, Psychology Today blogger, Melissa Burkley points out that, "although that is fairly small, it is as large as or larger than some well-established effects, including the link between aspirin and heart attack prevention, calcium intake and bone mass, second hand smoke and lung cancer, and condom use and HIV prevention (Bushman & Anderson, 2001)."

The hypothesis that our future impacts our present may sound crazy, but renown physicist Stephen Hawking agrees in part with Bem. In his book, The Grand Design, Hawking also suggests that the future impacts the present. He bases his idea on the idea that particles moving through space don't take a 'single, definite path' to their destinations, but rather 'take every path and they take them all simultaneously.' (Hawking 75) What this means is that the particles, because they take every path, somehow collect information along the way that allows them to make certain decisions on where to ultimately arrive. Hawking states, "The universe, according to quantum physics, has no single past, or history." Instead of being set in stone, the past is more like a continuum of possibilities.

Finally, religion enters into this strange mix by way of English theologian, C. S. Lewis, who claimed that prayer can actually work retroactively, provided that the person praying does not know the outcome. For example, if someone you know is having a medical procedure at 2:00 p.m., but you don't remember to pray for her until 3:00 p.m., your prayer can still have an effect on that person's surgery provided that you don't already know the results. Lewis' logic behind this claim is that any deity who exists outside of time would have the power to change events in the past. (Lewis, On Special Providences)

While the idea of the future affecting the present is fascinating, I myself have a hard time believing it. But then again, I am practical enough to want to cover all of her bases. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go study for a test I took yesterday.

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Photo credit: Time, by Alice Popkorn