In a recent article under the above title (but without the question mark) Henry Stapp has presented arguments which lead him to conclude that under suitable conditions “the truth of a statement that refers only to phenomena confined to an earlier time” must “depend on which measurement an experimenter freely chooses to perform at a later time.” I suggest that this conclusion contains an essential ambiguity as regards the meaning of the expression “statement referring only to phenomena confined to an earlier time,” when such a statement talks about the outcome of an experiment that was not actually performed. As a result Stapp’s argumentation does not imply that future choices can affect present facts. But it does provide a wonderful and instructively different opportunity to reexamine a central point of Bohr’s famous reply to Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen.
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October 1998
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October 01 1998
Nonlocal character of quantum theory?
N. David Mermin
N. David Mermin
Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-2501
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Am. J. Phys. 66, 920–924 (1998)
Article history
Received:
November 14 1997
Accepted:
March 13 1998
Citation
N. David Mermin; Nonlocal character of quantum theory?. Am. J. Phys. 1 October 1998; 66 (10): 920–924. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.18990
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