Editing 1591: Bell's Theorem
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | [[Ponytail]] begins reading | + | [[Ponytail]] begins reading Bell's theorem to [[Cueball]], who is standing 5 meters away. Cueball responds with a misunderstanding of Bell's Theorem in 1 nanosecond. The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 meters per second. In one nanosecond, the light from Ponytail would only have traveled 0.3 meters, thus Cueball misunderstands Bell's Theorem faster than the light from Ponytail reading the theorem can reach him, which implies that some kind of faster-than-light communication occurred to set up the misunderstanding. This would violate {{w|Principle of locality|locality}}. Of course no correct information was transferred faster than light (see also the title text explanation below)... |
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This comic was published on October 16, 2015, five days before an article about the first-ever [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v526/n7575/full/nature15759.html Loophole-free Bell's Theorem test] was published in {{w|Nature magazine}} ([https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature15759 DOI:10.1038/nature15759]) (see also {{w|Bell test experiments}}). However, the paper was submitted almost two months earlier on the [http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.05949 24th of August] and could most likely be found online before this comic was released. It was accepted by Nature already on the 28th of September, but was first published online October 21, 2015. [[Randall]] may very well have been aware of the imminent release of this paper, although it is peculiar that he did not wait until the paper was released. (This could potentially be a meta-joke, with the joke about Bell's Theorem being released before the paper about the relevant experiment was published) | This comic was published on October 16, 2015, five days before an article about the first-ever [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v526/n7575/full/nature15759.html Loophole-free Bell's Theorem test] was published in {{w|Nature magazine}} ([https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature15759 DOI:10.1038/nature15759]) (see also {{w|Bell test experiments}}). However, the paper was submitted almost two months earlier on the [http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.05949 24th of August] and could most likely be found online before this comic was released. It was accepted by Nature already on the 28th of September, but was first published online October 21, 2015. [[Randall]] may very well have been aware of the imminent release of this paper, although it is peculiar that he did not wait until the paper was released. (This could potentially be a meta-joke, with the joke about Bell's Theorem being released before the paper about the relevant experiment was published) | ||
− | + | {{w|Bell's Theorem|Bell's Theorem}} states "No physical theory of (finitely many) {{w|Local_hidden_variable_theory|local hidden variables}} can ever reproduce all of the predictions of quantum mechanics." It says that a theoretical treatment that divides the universe up into separate ("local") systems like this will always discard something about those systems' intercorrelations. | |
− | + | "Global hidden variables" are another story: if there is classical information shared across systems (perhaps by superluminal communication) even up to superdeterminism where the universe is just reading off a script, any correlations can be explained away. But this is unsatisfying. | |
The preferred resolution of the paradox is not to insist (as early physicists did) that the universe's state is a collection of bits (classical information), but treat it as a collection of qubits (quantum information). | The preferred resolution of the paradox is not to insist (as early physicists did) that the universe's state is a collection of bits (classical information), but treat it as a collection of qubits (quantum information). |