Bell proved that you can't be at two places at once!

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It has often been claimed (after Henry Stapp) that Bell's theorem is the most profound discovery of science. So what did Bell actually prove that is so profound?
Well, it turns out that all Bell proved was that you can't be at two places at once! For example, you can't be in New York and Miami at exactly the same time.
That is all, folks. That is all what Bell proved. Now why do I say that? It surely sounds silly, as it is intended to be. But I am serious. Let me explain what I mean.
Consider the following silly hypothesis: We live in a world where it is possible --- at least momentarily --- to be in New York and Miami at exactly the same time.
From this hypothesis it follows that, in such a world, it is possible for Bob to detect a spin along both directions b and b' at exactly the same time as Alice detects her spin along the direction a, or a'. If we denote the measurement functions of Alice and Bob as A(a, h) and B(b, h), respectively, then we can say that in this world it is possible for the measurement event such as A(a, h) of Alice to simultaneously coexist with both the measurement events B(b, h) and B(b', h) observed by Bob, where h is the initial state (or hidden variable) of the singlet spin system. Consequently, we can write the "coincidence click" (a single click) observed by both Alice and Bob as
A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } (notwithstanding the fact that there are only two particles available to Alice and Bob for each run of the EPR-Bohm type experiment).
It is also worth stressing here that in our familiar macroscopic world ( after all a and b are macroscopic directions ) such a bizarre spacetime event is never observed. Why? Because the measurement directions a and b freely chosen by Alice and Bob are mutually exclusive macroscopic measurement directions in the physical 3-space.
Similarly, nothing prevents Alice and Bob in such a bizarre world to simultaneously observe the following event:
A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) } .
And --- yes, you guessed it --- nothing prevents Alice and Bob in such a bizarre world to simultaneously observe the sum of the above two events as a single event
A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } + A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) }.
Consider now a very large (effectively infinite) number of the initial states (or hidden variables) h and the corresponding simultaneous events like the last one above. We can then calculate the expected value of such an event, occurring in this bizarre world, by means of the following integral
Int_H [ A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } + A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) } ] rho(h) dh ,
where Int_H represents an integral over the space H of all possible hidden variables h, and rho(h) is the corresponding normalized probability distribution of h.
Next we ask: What are the upper and lower bounds on this expected value? You will find the answer to this question worked out in the paper linked below; which is:
-2 < Int_H [ A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } + A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) } ] rho(h) dh < +2 .
Now it is a trivial mathematical fact that the above expected value, together with its bounds of -2 and +2, can be written as a sum of four expected values as follows:
-2 < Int_H [ A(a, h) B(b, h) ] rho(h) dh + Int_H [ A(a, h) B(b', h) ] rho(h) dh + Int_H [ A(a', h) B(b, h) ] rho(h) dh - Int_H [ A(a', h) B(b', h) ] rho(h) dh < +2 .
This can be rewritten in a more recognizable form as
-2 < E(a, b) + E(a, b' ) + E(a', b) - E(a', b' ) < +2 .
Now we conduct the EPR-Bohm experiments and interpret their results as exceeding the bounds of -2 and +2 on the above sum of four independent expected values:
-2\/2 < E(a, b) + E(a, b' ) + E(a', b) - E(a', b' ) < +2\/2 .
Consequently, we conclude that the hypothesis we started out with --- the one written in red ink --- must be false. In other words, we do not actually live in a bizarre world in which it is possible, even momentarily, to be in New York and Miami at exactly the same time. This is what Bell proved. And this is all what Bell ever proved.
Note that the ONLY hypothesis used to derive the bounds of |2| on CHSH is the one stated in red ink: It is possible, at least momentarily, to be at two places at once!
Further technical details of this perspective can be found --- for example --- in my recent 3-page paper: http://libertesphilosophica.info/blog/w ... /Fatal.pdf.
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It has often been claimed (after Henry Stapp) that Bell's theorem is the most profound discovery of science. So what did Bell actually prove that is so profound?
Well, it turns out that all Bell proved was that you can't be at two places at once! For example, you can't be in New York and Miami at exactly the same time.

That is all, folks. That is all what Bell proved. Now why do I say that? It surely sounds silly, as it is intended to be. But I am serious. Let me explain what I mean.
Consider the following silly hypothesis: We live in a world where it is possible --- at least momentarily --- to be in New York and Miami at exactly the same time.
From this hypothesis it follows that, in such a world, it is possible for Bob to detect a spin along both directions b and b' at exactly the same time as Alice detects her spin along the direction a, or a'. If we denote the measurement functions of Alice and Bob as A(a, h) and B(b, h), respectively, then we can say that in this world it is possible for the measurement event such as A(a, h) of Alice to simultaneously coexist with both the measurement events B(b, h) and B(b', h) observed by Bob, where h is the initial state (or hidden variable) of the singlet spin system. Consequently, we can write the "coincidence click" (a single click) observed by both Alice and Bob as
A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } (notwithstanding the fact that there are only two particles available to Alice and Bob for each run of the EPR-Bohm type experiment).
It is also worth stressing here that in our familiar macroscopic world ( after all a and b are macroscopic directions ) such a bizarre spacetime event is never observed. Why? Because the measurement directions a and b freely chosen by Alice and Bob are mutually exclusive macroscopic measurement directions in the physical 3-space.
Similarly, nothing prevents Alice and Bob in such a bizarre world to simultaneously observe the following event:
A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) } .
And --- yes, you guessed it --- nothing prevents Alice and Bob in such a bizarre world to simultaneously observe the sum of the above two events as a single event
A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } + A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) }.
Consider now a very large (effectively infinite) number of the initial states (or hidden variables) h and the corresponding simultaneous events like the last one above. We can then calculate the expected value of such an event, occurring in this bizarre world, by means of the following integral
Int_H [ A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } + A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) } ] rho(h) dh ,
where Int_H represents an integral over the space H of all possible hidden variables h, and rho(h) is the corresponding normalized probability distribution of h.
Next we ask: What are the upper and lower bounds on this expected value? You will find the answer to this question worked out in the paper linked below; which is:
-2 < Int_H [ A(a, h) { B(b, h) + B(b', h) } + A(a', h) { B(b, h) - B(b', h) } ] rho(h) dh < +2 .
Now it is a trivial mathematical fact that the above expected value, together with its bounds of -2 and +2, can be written as a sum of four expected values as follows:
-2 < Int_H [ A(a, h) B(b, h) ] rho(h) dh + Int_H [ A(a, h) B(b', h) ] rho(h) dh + Int_H [ A(a', h) B(b, h) ] rho(h) dh - Int_H [ A(a', h) B(b', h) ] rho(h) dh < +2 .
This can be rewritten in a more recognizable form as
-2 < E(a, b) + E(a, b' ) + E(a', b) - E(a', b' ) < +2 .
Now we conduct the EPR-Bohm experiments and interpret their results as exceeding the bounds of -2 and +2 on the above sum of four independent expected values:
-2\/2 < E(a, b) + E(a, b' ) + E(a', b) - E(a', b' ) < +2\/2 .
Consequently, we conclude that the hypothesis we started out with --- the one written in red ink --- must be false. In other words, we do not actually live in a bizarre world in which it is possible, even momentarily, to be in New York and Miami at exactly the same time. This is what Bell proved. And this is all what Bell ever proved.
Note that the ONLY hypothesis used to derive the bounds of |2| on CHSH is the one stated in red ink: It is possible, at least momentarily, to be at two places at once!
Further technical details of this perspective can be found --- for example --- in my recent 3-page paper: http://libertesphilosophica.info/blog/w ... /Fatal.pdf.

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