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Non-Local Realistic Theories and the Scope of the Bell Theorem

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We are told that no distinction is to be made between the state of a natural object and what I know about it, or perhaps better, what I can know about it if I go to some trouble. Actually—so they say—there is intrinsically only awareness, observation, measurement. If through them I have procured at a given moment the best knowledge of the state of the physical object that is possibly attainable in accord with natural laws, then I can turn aside as meaningless any further questioning about the “actual state”, inasmuch I am convinced that no further observation can extend my knowledge of it. (Schrödinger [29, p. 157])

From those who made [the Copernican] revolution we learned that the world is more intelligible when we do not imagine ourselves to be at the centre of it. Does not quantum theory place observers…us…at the centre of the picture? There is indeed much talk of ‘observables’ in quantum theory books. And from some popular presentations the general public could get the impression that the very existence of the cosmos depends on our being here to observe the observables. I do not know that this is wrong. I am inclined to hope that we are indeed important. But I see no evidence that it is so in the success of contemporary quantum theory. (Bell [6, p. 170])

Abstract

According to a widespread view, the Bell theorem establishes the untenability of so-called ‘local realism’. On the basis of this view, recent proposals by Leggett, Zeilinger and others have been developed according to which it can be proved that even some non-local realistic theories have to be ruled out. As a consequence, within this view the Bell theorem allows one to establish that no reasonable form of realism, be it local or non-local, can be made compatible with the (experimentally tested) predictions of quantum mechanics. In the present paper it is argued that the Bell theorem has demonstrably nothing to do with the ‘realism’ as defined by these authors and that, as a consequence, their conclusions about the foundational significance of the Bell theorem are unjustified.

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  1. Department of Human Sciences, University of Milan-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo nuovo 1, 20126, Milan, Italy

    Federico Laudisa

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  1. Federico Laudisa
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Laudisa, F. Non-Local Realistic Theories and the Scope of the Bell Theorem. Found Phys 38, 1110–1132 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-008-9255-8

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