Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, Ph.D.
Cosmology.com
BrainMind.com
The Future Already Exists
In a quantum universe all of existence consists of a frenzy of subatomic activity which can be characterized as possessing pure potentiality and all of which are linked and entangled as a basic oneness which extends in all directions and encompasses all dimensions including time (Bohr, 1958, 1963; Dirac, 1966a,b; Planck 1931, 1932, Heisenberg 1955, 1958; von Neumann 1937, 1955). The act of observation be it visual, auditory, tactile, mechanical, digital, is entangled with the quantum continuum and creates a static impression of just a fragment of that quantum frenzy that is registered in the mind of the observer as length, width, height, first, second, and so on; like taking a single picture of something in continual motion, metamorphosis, and transformation. That is, the act of sensory registration, be it a function of a single cell, or the conscious mind of a woman or man, selects a fragment of the infinite quantum possibilities and experiences it as real, but only to that mind or that cell at the moment of registration (Heisenberg 1955, 1958).
If time has a wave function not only would the future be linked to the past as a unity, but the conscious mind would be linked to the future and the past, thereby accounting for premonitions (vs anticipation) of what is going to take place; and this is because what will take place has already taken place. The future causes the premonition. And just as likely, the premonition may cause the future due to entanglement.
Then there are "effects" without any apparent "cause;" a possible consequence of the future effecting the present (Aharonov et al. 1988; Bem 2011; Radin 2006' Cho 2011). However, typically, these "effects" are written off as "mistakes" or due to "coincidence." Nevertheless, in an entangled universe the wave function of time representing the future can be predicted to interact with the wave function of the present (and vice versa) thereby inducing a causality-violating reduction of the wave form as perceived by the conscious mind.
Entanglement occurs across space and time with the future entangling the present and the past (Megidish et al. 2013). For example, photons preserve their coherence for long time periods and can be entangled by projection measurements (Kwiat et al. 1995; Weinfurter 1994) and can remain maximally entangled although separated spatially and at remote distances from each other (Goebel et al 2008; Pan et al. 1998). Moreover, entanglement swapping protocols can entangle two remote photons even with a significant time-like separation and without any interaction between them (Ma et al., 2012; Megidish et al. 2013; Peres 2000). Entanglement has been demonstrated even following a delayed choice and even before there was a decision to make a choice. For example, when four photons were created and two were measured, the two became entangled. However, if a choice was then made to measure the remaining two photons, all four became entangled before it was decided to do a second measurement (Ma et al., 2012; Peres 2000). Entanglement can occur independent of and before the act of measurement. "The time at which quantum measurements are taken and their order, has no effect on the outcome of a quantum mechanical experiment" (Megidish et al. 2013) and effects can occur even before a decision is made to do additional measurements. The future, therefore, effects the present and the past.
Moreover, "two photons that exist at separate times can be entangled" (Megidish et al. 2013). As detailed by Megidish et al (2013): "In the scenario we present here, measuring the last photon affects the physical description of the first photon in the past, before it has even been measured. Thus, the "spooky action" is steering the system's past. Another point of view...is that the measurement of the first photon is immediately steering the future physical description of the last photon. In this case, the action is on the future of a part of the system that has not yet been created."
Hence, entanglement between photons has been demonstrated even before the second photon even exists; "a manifestation of the non-locality of quantum mechanics not only in space, but also in time" (Megidish et al 2013). In other words, a photon may become entangled with another photon even before that photon is created, before it even exists in the present; and this is because the photon does exist in the future. Even after the first photon ceases to exist and before the second photon is created, both become entangled even though there is no overlap in time. Photons that do not exist can effect photons which do exist and photons which no longer exist and photons which will exist (Megidish et al. 2013); and presumably the same applies to all particles, atoms, molecules (Wiegner, et al 2011).
Therefore, as indicated by entanglement, the future may effect or take place before the past-present (Megidish et al 2013); and it is these same conditions which likely account for many of the experiences classified as deja vu, premonition, and precognition.
The laws of cause and effect are conscious constructs. Time is a phenomenon which is experienced by consciousness, which then fragments the experience of time into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, the past, present, and future; when, in quantum theory, time just is. We are participant observers, and our conception of time like our conception of the universe is shaped by consciousness and the limitations of the mind and brain. We can not conceive of what we cannot conceive and tend to reject what does not abide by the "laws" erected by consciousness, and this includes the unity of time where causes may precede effects and where the conscious mind may perceive the future before it becomes the present. That the future exists before it becomes the present, has been proved by entanglement and is a fundamental feature of space-time quantum continuum.
The Circle of Time
Time is linked to the Cosmos. There are a variety of conceptions as to the nature of the universe: curved, flat, finite, infinite, and so on. Einstein's relativity predicts a curved universe, the curvature being due to gravity which in turn creates a lumpy universe with waves, valleys, vortexes, eddies, and innumerable geometric contortions all of which effect the trajectory of light and the fourth dimension known as space-time. And yet, because light, matter, and space-time may be torqued by gravity does that necessarily mean the cosmos in-itself is curved. Perhaps these curvatures only effect its contents including the experience of time? In a curved universe anyone traveling in a "straight line" across the cosmos would eventually return to where they started. Einstein's field equations (Godel 1949a,b) predict that time is a circle and that the future leads to the past.
It is generally assumed that the arrow of time flies from the present into the future. If time consists of just one dimension, then the observer can only go in one direction. And yet, there is nothing in the laws of physics indicating that a particular direction is preferred. Likewise, although light waves travel in a direction, the laws of electromagnetism do not make a distinction between the past and future (Pollack & Stump, 2001; Slater & Frank, 2011). Einstein (1955) argued that the distinctions between the past present and future are an illusion and that the past, present and future differ according to location, gravity, and speed of movement. Like a flowing river, the "present," "past" and "future" are relative to the location of observer along the banks of that river; whereas in fact, the river has no present, past, future, or upstream or downstream, it just flows as its own unity. If space-time is curved as predicted by Einstein (1961) and if time is a circle (Godel 1949a, b), then the river of time is also a unity as predicted by quantum physics. However, in a curved universe, the future leads to the present and then the past (Gamow, 1946; Godel 1949a, b).
The eternal now, experienced as the present, is like an event horizon with the future on one side and the past on the other. The future is always arriving whereas the past is always receding. Certainly it is possible that the arrow of time splits and bifurcates at the threshold of consciousness and flows toward the future and the past. However, quantum mechanics and relativity predict that the arrow of "now" is from the future to the present and then the past.
Even if time is in motion and limited to one direction, then the observer would not be moving forward in time, but future time would be flowing toward the observer and continue beyond the observer into the past. Consider the newly wed cowboy and his brushing bride sitting shyly on the edge of a carpet. What he intends to do to her is in the future. He lassos her and pulls her and the rug closer to him, and the rug curls up as he pulls. Although the rug stays the same length, the distance between the cowboy and his bride decreases. The future and the present come closer together. However, the future exists before it arrives. This is proved by relativity and length contraction for accelerated observers (Einstein et al. 1923).
When accelerating toward light speed, space-time contracts, and the distance between the present and the future will decrease; and this means, for the future to arrive more quickly, then it must already exist, albeit in a distant location in space-time, which is what Einstein (1955, 1961) implied when he insisted that the distinctions between past, present and future were illusions. And if the future, a future, or any number of futures already exists, then those futures may effect the present, just as the ripples from a rock thrown into a clear crystal pond can intersect distant shores.
The Future In One Location May Be The Past In Another Location
The star Sirius A is 8.6 light years from Earth. Light-images which left Sirius 1.6 light years ago, are from that star's past, but will not reach Earth for another 7 light years in Earth's future. Therefore, someone living on a planet orbiting Sirius would be able to predict events before they take place on Earth. If something which has already happened is not perceived until the future on Earth, then that future already exists even before it is experienced on Earth.
Conversely, light from our sun and accompanying reflective light-images of Earth from yesterday, are from this solar system's past, but will not reach Sirius for 8.6 light years, and are thus in the future relative to Sirius. The future and the past are relative and overlap and can travel in the same direction in time-space and can occupy the same forward or backward mobile locations in time-space simultaneously. However, again, what has just taken place on Earth, what has just happened, will not be experienced on a planet orbiting Sirius for another 8.6 light years.
There is no universal now, no universal future, no universal past. There are innumerable stars, innumerable observers, and innumerable pasts, presents, and futures. Thus, multiple futures, which already exist, flow from multiple directions toward Earth and which will be experienced by innumerable observers. It is only the conscious mind of the observer which determines what takes place in the present; even if it has already happened in the future.
Predicting A Future Which Exists Before It Is Experienced
Relativity and quantum physics both predict the future exists before it is experienced. However, due to entanglement, and chaos, the future may continually change until the moment it is perceived.
According to Einstein's theories, as a space-time machine accelerates toward light speed, the future arrives more quickly relative to those back on Earth. If the space-time machine were to slow, it would take longer to arrive at the future. Likewise, although light travels at light speed, the speed of light can be bent, curved, and slowed. For example, lights slow by 25% when passing through water and by 35% when passing through glass. Rays of light may also be bent and reflected in multiple directions, as illustrated by galactic lensing.
Figures: Refraction and Gravitational Lensing: Light is curved, bent, split.
Time and light are not synonymous. However, since time appears to be linked to light speed, and as time is integral to space-time, then perhaps time, like light can also be bent, curved, split-apart, slowed as well as effect and be effected by all that it encounters, including, consciousness.
Since futures and pasts overlaps and as time-space is coextensive, then time, including local time relative to a single observer, is entangled. The past may effect the future, the future can effect the past, time effects consciousness and alterations in consciousness effect the passage of time.
As a "future" flows toward Earth it can also be effected by whatever it encounters on the way to the present, relative to an observer on Earth--exactly as befalls light. All futures are also entangled with space-time, the quantum continuum, and subject to the Uncertainty Principle. Therefore, future time may be continually altered until perhaps just moments before these futures are experienced by observers who are also entangled with what they experience.
Likewise, one may anticipate and predict the future, just like they may predict the weather. The ability to accurately anticipate and predict the future, like predicting future weather, may increase the closer that future is to the present. Planning skills, goal formation, strategy, long term investments, concern for consequences, and even the most basic of calendars, all rest upon the ability to make predictions about the future.
The future is like the weather, with the ability to forecast the weather decreasing in accuracy as time and distance from the present increases. In other words, and because of entanglement and classic concepts governing "cause and effect", the future is not already determined but is in flux and subject to continual alteration. The act of observing and other forces related to cause and affect alter the quantum continuum and change the future as it approaches. The future may not become fixed until the moment it is perceived by an observer relative to that observer, at which point it is in the present. Hence, predictions about the future will seldom be completely accurate, and become less accurate regarding increasingly distant events in the future, but more accurate but not completely accurate regarding events in the immediate future; a consequence of entanglement and the Uncertainty Principle.
Since the past is also relative and can exist in the future for some observers and in the present for others, and as the past is entangled with the quantum continuum, then the past is also subject to change after it has been experienced and before it is experienced by another observer at a downstream location in space-time. Two historians writing about history interpret the past differently. A husband and wife discussing what happened at a party the night before, disagree. Eye-witness accounts differ among eye-witnesses. A peasant living in a small village in western China in 1963 may have never heard of the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. The past is relative. There is no universal "past."
Time is entangled and is affected by consciousness and relative to and effected by the act of observation and measurement--as predicted by quantum mechanics (Bohr, 1958, 1963; Dirac, 1966a,b; Planck 1931, 1932, Heisenberg 1927, 1958; Neumann 1937, 1955).
Causes and Effects Are Relative To Consciousness
If the future already exists, and if superluminal particles or information can arrive in the present from the future before they are perceived, this, coupled with entanglement (Plenio 2007; Juan et al. 2013; Francis 2012), may result in causes becoming confused with effects, whereas it is the future which is causing and effecting the present (Bem 2011; Radin 2006).
In some respects, sometimes the association between and the classification of one event as a "cause" and the other an "effect" are little more than illusion, as demonstrated by quantum entanglement and "spooky action at a distance" (Francis 2012; Lee et al. 2011; Matson 2012; Olaf et al. 2003; Plenio 2007; Juan et al. 2013;). Just as, according to the quantum physics, the observing mind interacts with the quantum continuum and makes it possible to perceive shape and form, the conscious mind (and the dreaming mind) can also impose temporal order where this is none (Joseph 1982, 1986, 2010a).
For example, it has been well established that the neocortical mantle of the left hemisphere is dominant for the expressive, nominal, grammatical aspects of language, most aspects of mathematical reasoning, and is associated with processing and thinking in terms of temporal sequential order, and beginning and endings (Joseph 1982, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1996, 2011). As demonstrated by quantum mechanics and formalized by the Uncertainty Principle (Heisenberg 1925, 1927), consciousness affects reality at the moment an event or object is measured or registered in consciousness, and thus imposes shape, form, speed, momentum, location, and temporal order. However, what is known, is imprecise (Bohr, 1958, 1963; Dirac, 1966a,b; Planck 1931, 1932, Heisenberg 1955, 1958; Neumann 1937, 1955). To know something in its totality, would require a multi-dimensional all encompassing infinite "god's eye" view.
Moreover, as demonstrated by neuroscience, the mind is not a singularity, but a multiplicity with different aspects of consciousness and awareness directly associated with specific regions of the brain (Joseph, 1992, 1996, 2011). These different mental realms and brain areas can perceive time and the quantum continuum differently. Time may be perceived by one brain region as lacking temporal order but as a continuum or gestalt. The mind is a multiplicity, which can become a duality, and which is often experienced as a singularity referred to as consciousness.
Consciousness is entangled with the space-time continuum which includes the future. Conscious observers can also engage in "mental time travel" (Suddendorf & Corballis 2007). Upon anticipating or looking into the future the observing consciousness can then engage in behaviors that are shaped and directed by that future. What constitutes a cause and what constitutes an effect, are relative and not uncommonly it is the anticipation of the future which causes the cause in the present.
A major corporation, A, which is a defendant in a Federal lawsuit with Plaintiff "B", promises the Judge "C", a large bribe at some future date if he rules against "B" and in favor of "A." After the the Judge rules against "B" he receives his bribe. Thus the "cause" of this judge's behavior, the "bribe", took place at a future date, such that the future affected the "present" (the issuing of false rulings). The future is the cause which effects the present. The cause, causes itself.
A man buys a beautiful woman flowers, candy, jewelry, and an expensive dinner at a five star restaurant. He doesn't lavish these gifts upon the lucky maiden because he loves her, but because he is hoping she will reciprocate, after the date, by giving him sex. The expectation of sex in the future, and thus an event in the future, is the cause of his behavior in the present. The future is the cause which effects and causes his behavior in the present.
Before he bought her these gifts the man may have fantasized about the date, how he would take her to his home, what he would say, what he would do, how she would respond. This could be described as "mental time travel; rehearsing and practicing for a future event before it occurs. As demonstrated by Bem (2011), future practice can effect performance in the present before the practice occurs.
Time is also relative. Hence, when the beautiful woman received these gifts she decided to reward him. Therefore, relative to and from the perspective of the lucky maiden, the effect (sex) is a direct consequence of the cause (his gifts). On the other hand, she also knew that she could cause him to give her gifts by giving him sex in the future. Future sex caused his behavior.
Consciousness is also part of the quantum continuum and so too is the future, present, and past. Thus, consciousness, like gravity and electromagnetic waves, is relative and can affect distant objects and events, including, perhaps, those in the future and the past (Planck 1931, 1932. Moreover, all have a wave function, and time and consciousness are entangled.
The past, present, future are entangled and occupy overlapping as well as distant locations flowing in a variety of directions and creating ripples in the river of time, just as rocks tossed at various distances into the smooth surface of a crystal lake creates ripples and waves which may intersect. It is well established that causes and effects can occur simultaneously and ever faster than light speed (Lee et al. 2011; Matson 2012; Olaf et al. 2003). A future "cause" can "effect" the present even though separated by great distance in space-time as it is all part of the basic oneness of the quantum continuum which is also continuous with time.
However, since consciousness is also entangled, then consciousness may also perceive a future event before it occur; a phenomenon known as "precognition"
The Contraction and Acceleration of Time
If a Time Traveler was 1,900 miles (3,100 kilometers) above Earth and accelerating at 9.8 m/s2 that is, generating a force of 9.8 N/kg, equal to the gravitational field strength of Earth at its surface, time-space would not contract and his clock would run at the same speed as those on Earth. Under these conditions, the Time Traveler would journey into the past or the future at the same time as those on Earth. This is because velocity, inertial mass and gravitational mass (g-load) would be the same for those on Earth and the Time Traveler
Upon accelerating toward light speed, the length of a space-time machine, unless capable of spin and rotation, will contract in the direction of motion and become increasing thin while maintaining height and width. Upon accelerating to 50% light speed, then 90% then 99.9999999% light speed, time-space would continue to contract, decreasing the distance between the present and the future, possibly with those areas of space-time closest to the nose of the time machine undergoing maximum contraction relative to more distant future locations.
Not all of space-time contracts. Space-time contraction is local and relative to the velocity of the Time Machine, such that the shrinkage of space-time is maximal at its nearest point to the Time Machine. If all inertial frames were equally contracted then clocks on Earth and clocks on the time machine would run at the same speed, and external observers would not see the time machine is shrinking where the Time Traveler would not see clocks running faster on Earth. if inertial frames are equal, time is symmetric.
Just as the exertion of pressure on a substance has its maximum impact beneath the point of contact, and just as the effects of gravity diminish over distance and increase near the center of gravity, time-space increasingly contracts as proximity to the time-machine increases as it moves through space. Like gravity, the proportion of contraction decreases with increasing distance from the time machine, which means, the near future is proportionally closer than the far future.
For example, if a Time Traveler leaves on his journey in the year 2050 with a destination of 2250, and has a velocity of 99% light speed, space-time contraction would also be relative to the distance from the Time Machine, such that those years closest to 2050 (the location of the time machine in time-space) contract more than those years after 2051. In other words, if traveling at near light speed in the year 2050 the distance between the years 2050 and 2051 may contract by 10%, the distance between 2051 and 2052 by 9%, the distance between 2052 and 2053 by 8%, and so on. Upon reaching the year 2051, then the contraction between 2051 and 2052 might contract by 10% and between 2052 and 2053 by 9% and so on, such that amount of space-time contraction increases the closer it is to the Time Machine.
Not all space-time shrinks proportionately. The greatest shrinking would occur locally, within the immediate vicinity of the Time Machine such that the immediate future always arrives at the same time. By contrast, observers back on Earth and those at a great distance from the Time Traveler experience no shrinkage at all.
Into The Past: Invisibility
Relative to those on Earth, the Time Traveler arrives in the future in less time due to the contraction of space-time. Upon reaching light speed, and if traveling in a craft with rotation and spin, the Time Traveler may have become the size of a Planck length or smaller whereas surrounding space-time will have contracted to a singularity. Upon exceeding light speed, the contraction will implode, there is a time-space reversal, contraction continues in a negative direction, and he leaves the future for the past at superluminal speeds. However, he will likely consist of negative energy and negative mass and like all other superluminal objects, particles, or wave, he will be invisible since he is traveling faster than light.
There is a duality, and this is because the Time Traveler is moving faster than light and the reflected light images of the Time Machine will trail behind. Therefore, the Time Machine will have already arrived in the present from the future, and will be on its way to the past, when the light-image, following right behind, finally shows up in the present (relative to the observer). However, the time machine itself will be invisible since it is traveling faster than the light which reflects its image.
Moreover, his reflected light-image, which follows far behind, will be misperceived as traveling not from the future into the past, but from the present into the future. Likewise, "causes" which occur in the future may be misperceived as occurring in the present.
For example, an observer watching a movie running in reverse of a distant rocket orbiting well above Earth may not realize it is playing in reverse. Unless they have expertise in rocketry they may not realize that the rocket is moving backwards in time (from the end of the film to the beginning) . Likewise, an observer on Earth moving forward in time, will see the Time Traveler who is heading into the past, as moving forward in time, but with the tail end of the Time Machine leading the way. However, what the Earth-bound observer sees in the present, has already happened in a future leading to her present and has already left the present for the past. What she experiences has already happened--just the moon you see is from 8 seconds ago.
Information, particles, objects, time machines moving backward in time will appear to be moving forward in time from the reference frame of an observer moving forward in time. The observer will see the reflected light image of the Time Machine as moving parallel forward in time with the observer. As to the actual Time Machine, since it is traveling faster than light, the observer may only perceive a blank spot in the sky and just behind it a reflected light-image which follows. Nevertheless, in either scenario, the Time Traveler will have already journeyed from the future to the present and into the past in advance of the light-image of the Time Machine which comes after.
Likewise, superluminal information from the future can arrive in the present and continue into the past, whereas Earth-bound observers will only detect and perceive the later arriving details which trail behind and arrive moments later at the speed of light. And, this information may not be perceived as from the future, but as coexisting in the present and leading back to the future. And this is because for every moment that leads to the future, the image or the information from the future will be there as it travels form the future to the past.
For example, a Time Machine that leaves in the year 2150 for the year 2120, will be visible to observers in the year 2121, 2122, 2123, up to 2150 as it travels into the past. However, what they see is the light-image trailing right behind at the speed of light.
Information from the future may arrive without being perceived (Bem 2011; Radin 2006), and then it may be perceived (as conveyed by light), and then it may be misperceived as taking place in the present and continuing to take place as time marches on into the future.
Since consciousness is entangled with the quantum continuum, then not only may the mind perceive events before they take place, but they may perceive information traveling from the future to the past at superluminal speeds, and then continue to perceive it as time marches on into the future thereby providing the foundation for precognition and phenomenon such as deja vu. Moreover, because information may appear in the present at superluminal speeds (Lee et al. 2011; Matson 2012; Olaf et al. 2003), followed by that same information as transmitted at the speed of light, this would explain why phenomenon such as deja vu and precognition are generally limited to what is about to happen, rather than what may take place next week or next year.
Deja Vu
Upon accelerating toward light speed a Time Travel is propelled into the future, but at beyond light speeds he is propelled into the past. A time machine with a velocity beyond light speed will travel faster than the reflected light images of that time machine which lag behind at light speed. The Time Machine will appear in the present only to be followed moments later by those beams of light transporting those images of the Time Machine. Superluminal information from the future can arrive in the present and continue into the past, whereas Earth-bound observers will only perceive the later arriving details which follow behind at the speed of light.
Entanglement commonly occurs at superluminal speeds (Francis 2012; Juan et al. 2013; Plenio 2007; Lee et al. 2011; Matson 2012; Olaf et al. 2003). However, if an entangled consciousness is effected by the passage of that superluminal information this can give rise to retro-cognition (Bem 2011; Radin 2006); knowing something has happened or will happen before it happens.
As illustrated by light-images from distant stars which are from the past but which will arrive on Earth in the future, various "futures" exist prior to being experienced by various observers. If time has a wave function and is entangled with space-time and the quantum continuum, and as the brain and consciousness are part of that continuum (Heisenberg 1958; Planck 1931, 1932), then under certain circumstances a future may effect consciousness prior to being experienced by consciousness. Since entanglement takes place faster than light speed, the leading edge of a future experience may be registered in various conscious minds at superluminal speeds before the future actually arrives at light speed. The experience of this "time echo" is not uncommon, and has been referred to as deja vu, pre-cognition, and premonitions.
Deja vu is the conscious experience of having experienced some events just moments before the events take place. For example, a man opens the front door, step outsides, drops his keys and then a dog barks and the phone rings, and then he again experiences himself opening the door dropping his keys and then hearing a dog bark and then the ringing of his phone; like a time echo. He thus has the experience that all this has happened before or that he has done this before it happens. He may even say: "I've done this before" and then a few nanoseconds later he experiences himself saying "I've done this before."
Deja vu has been attributed to a delay in the transfer of sensory experiences from one region of the brain to another which receives that information twice, or the transmission of the same experience to the same area of the brain by two different brain areas such that the information is received twice following a brief delay (Joseph 1996). Hence, someone may experience deja vu because two or more areas of the brain are receiving or processing the same message with a slight delay between them. For example, the right and left halves of the brain are interconnected by a massive rope of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. Each half of the brain is capable of conscious experience (Joseph 1988a,b; 2010a). Usually information is shared between the cerebral hemispheres. However, if there is a delay in transferring these signals, then one or both halves of the brain may sense it has had this experience just moments before thereby giving a sense of familiarity (Joseph 1996).
Brain areas communicate via neurons, and neurons communicate with each other by sending signals over axons which are transmitted to and received by dendrites (at the synaptic junction) belonging to other neurons which in turn may transmit message via their axons at synaptic junctions to the dendrites of other neurons. Impulses between neurons travel at various speeds, ranging from 10 to 50 m / s (Joseph 1996) whereas the speed of light is 300,000 km/sec.
The experience of deja vu has been reported under conditions of altered and heightened brain activity (Bancaud et al., 1994; Gloor 1990; Joseph 1996). Moreover, deja vu has been reported in cases involving the ingestion of anti-viral flu vaccines, such as amantadine and phenylpropanolamine which increases brain activity by acting on dopamine receptors and increasing dopamine activity.
Heightened brain activity can be likened to an accelerated state of consciousness. Accelerated states are also associated with the contraction of space-time such that future arrives more quickly.
Deja vu, is also associated with heightened and accelerated activity in the inferior temporal lobe which houses the limbic striatum and amygdala, the later of which receives multi-modal sensory information and which normally filters out most of these sensations so the brain is not overwhelmed (Joseph 1996, 2011). Deja vu has been reported by patients when these areas of the brain have been activated due to direct electrode stimulation (Halgren 1990; Gloor 1990), drug ingestion or seizure activity (Joseph 1996).
Therefore, when brain activity increases and neurons fire more rapidly and process more information, one of the consequences is Deja vu. In other words, just as a Time Traveler will come closer to the future as he accelerates toward light speed, when brain activity accelerates the future may also come closer such that the leading edge of a future event is experienced by this accelerated state of consciousness just before the event happens in the present.
Precognition: Experimental Proof
Precognition is a form of conscious cognitive awareness which involves the acquisition of future knowledge just prior to its occurrence. Premonitions are a form of presentiment or an emotional feeling that something may happen in the near future, but without conscious knowledge of exactly what it is that is going to happen. Both can be considered forms of quantum entanglement (Radin 2006; Bem, 2011) where some near future event exerts and makes an impression on consciousness before the event occurs even when there is absolutely no way the future event could be inferred as about to happen.
Various surveys have indicated that over 50% of adults have experienced premonitions or phenomenon which could be classified as precognition (Kennedy et al., 1994; Radin 2006). Moreover, numerous rigorous, scientifically controlled experiments and meta-analyses of these experiments have demonstrated statistically significant evidence for precognition and premonitions (Honorton & Ferrari 1989; Radin 2006). For example Honorton and Ferrari (1989) performed a meta-analysis of 309 forced-choice precognition experiments involving over 50,000 subjects, and which had been published in scientific journals between 1936 and 1997. They found a consistent, statistically significant hit rate, meaning that the results could not be due to chance.
As with deja vu, increased brain activity or arousal contributes to precognitive activity (Bem, 2011; Radin 1997, 2006; Spottiswoode & May, 2003). Presentiment effect has also been directly related to increased brain activity as demonstrated in fMRI experiments (Bierman & Scholte, 2002) and with other physiological indices of participants' emotional arousal in which case they become aroused before they see the stimulus (Radin 1997). For example, when participants viewed a series emotionally neutral or emotionally arousing pictures on a computer screen, strong emotional arousal occurred a few seconds before the picture appeared, even before the computer had selected which emotional picture was to be displayed (Radin 1997, 2006).
In 2011, a well respected scientist, Daryl Bem published extensive statistically significant evidence for the effects of future events on cognition and emotion, demonstrating that the effect is in the present whereas the cause can still be in the future. For example, Bem had subjects perform a memory test which required that each subject look at a long list of words and to remember as many as possible. After completing the memory test he had the subjects type various words from that list which were randomly selected. Subjects showed statistically superior memory for the words which they were later asked to type. That is, the practice effect was retrocausal. The practice which was to take place in the future (the typing of words they had already seen) improved their memory of those words before they typed them. Thus, rehearsing a set of words makes them easier to recall even when the rehearsal occurs in the future and after subjects recall the words.
In another set of experiments Bem (2011), allowed a computer to control the entire procedure which involved showing each subject "explicit erotic images." The instructions were as follows: "on each trial of the experiment, pictures of two curtains will appear on the screen side by side. One of them has a picture behind it; the other has a blank wall behind it. Your task is to click on the curtain that you feel has the picture behind it." Statistical analysis of the results demonstrated that based on "feelings" subjects picked the location of the pornographic image at well above chance (even though they couldn't see it), whereas the location of the non-erotic neutral pictures were chosen at the rate of chance, i.e. 49.8% of the time.
Bem (2011) performed nine rigorously controlled experiments involving over 1000 subjects involving erotic stimuli, the avoidance of negative stimuli, and retroactive priming effects on memory and recall. Eight of the nine experiments yielded statistically significant results, and thus evidence for precognition and premonition.
Criticism of Precognition Experimental Results: The Baseball Analogy
A common criticism regarding the validity of research on premonitions and precognition is: if it exists, why doesn't it happen all the time? Why doesn't everyone have these experiences?
Consider major league baseball. In 2013, Miguel Cabrera had a batting average of .348 which was the best of all major league players. Although he is the best hitter in major league baseball, he hit the ball less than 50% of the time when he was at bat, and was able to get a "base hit" less than 35% of the time. Out of 750 major league players, 726 of them got a base hit less than 30% of the time in 2013 during regular season play (http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting). Given that these players had up to 5 opportunities to hit the ball each time at bat, and 3 opportunities to swing, it can be said that professional baseball players actually hit the ball less than 30% of the time. Bem (2011), Raden (1996, 2006) Bonorton and Ferrari (1989) and others have shown a precognition hit rate above 50%. But unlike major league baseball players, those displaying precognition get their hits before they see what is being thrown at them.
Precognition should be treated like all other measures of ability. We should not be surprised that there is variation (Carpenter 2004, 2005; Schmeidler, 1988). Indeed, the same complaints can be made about memory and past events: If it really happened, why does everyone remember it differently. Why do some people have a great memory and others are more forgetful? Why do different eye-witnesses remember the same event differently?
Even highly arousing and emotionally significant "flashbulb memories" are subject to considerable forgetting. For example, Neisser and Harsch (1992) had subjects fill out a questionnaire regarding where they were and how they heard about the Challenger space craft explosion soon after this national tragedy occurred in 1986. When these subjects were questioned again 32-34 months later, 75% could not recall filling out the questionnaire. Many of the subjects in fact had forgotten considerable detail regarding the Challenger explosion and where they were when the heard about it. According to Neisser and Harsch (1992), "As far as we can tell, the original memories are just gone."
Memory is poor. Batting averages are dismal. Should it be any surprise that premonitions and the experience of precognition is also variable?
The Quantum Physics of Premonition and Retrocausation
The phenomenon of premonition must be considered from the perspective of quantum physics not Newtonian physics or Einstein's theories of relativity. As summarized by John Stewart Bell in his 19964 ground breaking paper ("On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paradox") "any physical theory that incorporates local realism, favoured by Einstein cannot reproduce all the predictions of quantum mechanical theory."
In 2006, the American Association for the Advancement of Science organized an interdisciplinary conference of research scientists and physicists to discuss evidence for retrocausation as related to quantum physics, the conclusions of which were published in 2006: "it seems untenable to assert that time-reverse causation (retrocausation) cannot occur, even though it temporarily runs counter to the macro-scopic arrow of time" (Sheehan, 2006, p vii).
As demonstrated by quantum physics and entanglement, the future may effect and even direct the past or the present. Consider again entanglement between photons. In delayed choice experiments, entanglement was demonstrated among photons even before there was a decision to make a choice regarding these photons, that is, before it was decided to do a measurement (Ma et al., 2012; Peres 2000). Entanglement has also been demonstrated among photons which do not yet exist, where the choice has not even been made to create or measure future photons. Nevertheless, decisions which will be made in the future effect the measurement of photons in the present (Megidish et al 2013). The same principles can be applied to precognition. Information in the future, information which does not yet exist in the present, can effect and is entangled with the consciousness which will directly perceive that information once it arrives in the present.
The future, past, present, and consciousness are entangled within the quantum continuum. The future exists before it arrives and some people consciously perceive a future before it becomes the present; phenomenon which can be classified as evidence of entanglement and which are variably experienced as deja vu, premonitions, and precognition.
The future, past, present, and consciousness are entangled within the quantum continuum. The future exists before it arrives and some people consciously perceive a future before it becomes the present; phenomenon which can be classified as evidence of entanglement and which are variably experienced as deja vu, premonition, and precognition.
