Vordatum
Vordatum is a term used in speculative philosophy and science fiction to describe a datum that encodes information about a state of affairs that predates the datum’s recorded time. It serves as a conceptual tool for discussing how present observations might imply earlier possibilities or conditions, while remaining consistent with the rules of the fictional system in which it appears.
Etymology and scope. The word combines the German vor, meaning before, with Datum, meaning a data point
Concept and mechanics. A vordatums metadata typically includes an earliest-state tag and a causal envelope that
Applications and reception. In narrative worldbuilding and thought experiments, vordatums help illustrate questions about memory, prediction,
Variants and related ideas. Related notions include data provenance, time-stamping, and discussions of retrocausality in philosophy