Can the Future Affect the Past? Exploring Professor Yakir Aharonov's Fascinating Theory

In 1928, Alexander Fleming was cultivating a few bacteria cultures for his research, and then an accident happened. Without him noticing, a fungus fell into one of them, contaminating it with mold. Surprisingly, right next to the mold, the bacteria couldn't develop. This accident led to the discovery of penicillin, which in turn paved the way for the development of numerous antibiotics.

Similar to the penicillin case, countless other discoveries have emerged from accidents or even specific problems that occurred. A question that intrigues many scientists today is whether all this happened by chance. Were these medicines, for instance, supposed to be discovered, changing the face of 20th-century medicine? This question might sound bizarre to some, but not to Professor Yakir Aharonov from Tel Aviv University's Department of Physics.

We usually consider physicists to be very rational individuals who typically provide physical explanations for occurrences, and are certainly not quick to believe in mysticism.

In 2010, the esteemed scientific journal New Scientist declared that the 'Aharonov-Bohm Effect' is one of the seven wonders of quantum physics. This effect was discovered by Professor Yakir Aharonov, a respected Israeli physicist whose accolades are numerous, and is also a fellow of the British Royal Society.

Yakir Aharonov breaks the stereotype of the rational physicist, asserting that future events influence the past. Contrary to the materialistic view that the future hasn't yet happened and is dictated by randomness, Aharonov argues that it is possible to demonstrate through physics that the future exists, to a certain degree, and affects the past. It's like saying 'everything is foreseen,' or 'declaring the end from the beginning.'

Aharonov developed new measurement and calculation methods that offer a completely different perspective on our familiar concept of time. Using his 'weak measurements,' he has managed to show that in the world of quantum particles, future states can influence events occurring in our present, and even in the past.

In recent years, several laboratories worldwide have joined Aharonov, conducting quantum-level particle measurements that demonstrated this — at least on these small scales, the future can influence the past.

In an interview with Epoch, he states, 'Maybe what Hashem is trying to tell us, or what nature is trying to tell us, is that if two particles start exactly the same and appear to us in every way identical, there is indeed a difference between them. But this difference can only be discovered in the future.'

And not just in the realm of particles; perhaps in the real world, the universe has a purpose, says Aharonov, and this purpose caused life to form on Earth in the past — it wasn't a random action. It is part of the world's destiny.

His words are interesting and captivating, as a physicist open to seeing an additional dimension in reality beyond the material world before us. However, they do not represent Jewish belief, which speaks clearly about a destiny predetermined by the Creator, rather than an ambiguous 'future.' But we learn from this that physics is not truly uni-directional, it does not claim nor prove that everything can be explained naturally, but rather that there are gaps and parts needing completion. It does not prove that spirituality is unnecessary, but on the contrary, it lacks elements that spirituality could complete and explain. Physics is part of the wisdom of the Creator, not the entire reality.