Backtracking influence is influence that zigzags in time. For example, backtracking influence exists when an event E 1 makes an event E 2 more likely by way of a nomic connection that goes from E 1 back in time to an event C and then forward in time to E 2 . I contend that backtracking influence is redundant in the sense that any existing backtracking influence exerted by E 1 on E 2 is equivalent to E 1 's temporally direct influence on E 2 . I prove the redundancy of backtracking influence

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... g several plausible physical principles without assuming any fundamental temporal or causal asymmetry. This explanation can play a prominent role in an account of why causation appears to be objectively asymmetric regardless of whether the fundamental laws are temporally symmetric.