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Bell’s Theory of Beables and the Concept of ‘Universe’

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What is Fundamental?

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Abstract

From its earliest days nearly a century ago, quantum mechanics has proven itself to be a tremendously accurate yet intellectually unsatisfying theory to many. Not the least of its problems is that it is a theory about the results of measurements. As John Bell once said in introducing the concept of ‘beables’, it should be possible to say what is rather than merely what is observed. In this essay I consider the question of whether a universe can be a (nonlocal) beable and what that implies about the fundamental nature of that universe. I conclude that a universe that is a beable within the framework of some theory, cannot also be fundamental.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To be read as be-er not beer (i.e. not the beverage).

  2. 2.

    “Observables are made out of beables” [6], p. 41.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Travis Norsen, Tim Maudlin, Hans Westman, and Travis Myers for a stimulating and enlightening discussion that helped to shape this essay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, 03102, USA

    Ian T. Durham

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  1. Ian T. Durham
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Correspondence to Ian T. Durham .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Anthony Aguirre

  2. Foundational Questions Institute, Decatur, GA, USA

    Brendan Foster

  3. Foundational Questions Institute, Decatur, GA, USA

    Zeeya Merali

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Durham, I.T. (2019). Bell’s Theory of Beables and the Concept of ‘Universe’. In: Aguirre, A., Foster, B., Merali, Z. (eds) What is Fundamental?. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11301-8_11

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