  The recent operationalization of the famous Newcomb's game by Schmidt (1998)
offers an interesting and thought-provoking look at the plausibility of
backward causation in a Newtonian universe. Hereby we investigate two details
of the Schmidt's scenario which may, at least in principle, invalidate his
conclusion in two different domains: one dealing with the issue of Newtonian
predictability in specific instance of human actions, and the other stemming
from a possible strategy aimed at obviating the anthropically oriented view of
backward causation as applied to a judicial and ethical problem posed by a
version of the scenario. We conclude that the scenario is at least to be more
complex than originally presented in order to remain viable. However, it points
to a very deep and delicate question of compatibility of backward causation
with the conventional ethical standards.
