Posted by D J Lancaster on February 13, 1999 at 17:17:10:
In Reply to: not an expert on the subject but... posted by rpcman on February 13, 1999 at 00:28:59:
The Physicist referred to here is John Stewart Bell, inventor of the interconnectedness theorem, which establishes non-locality as a general feature of this world. (Theory came into being about 1964)
According to Nick Herbert Bell's theorem indirectly necessitates a deep non-locality,----
a faster-than light communication scheme based on deep quantum connections.
He creates the following illustration:
"Imagine Joe Green, an inhabitant of a non-local contextual world. Up in his sky, Joe sees a rainbow made up of a glistening pattern of colored dots. Unlike the regular dots in a photogrphic halftone, Joe's rainbow's dots form a random array.
On the other side of the same sun lies a counter-Earth, where Suzie Blue watches another rainbow in her counter-sky. Suzie's rainbow is likewise composed of a random array of colored dots. When Joe Green moves his chair, his rainbow moves too(a rainbow's position attribute is contextual, not innate), but Suzie's rainbow stands still. However, when Joe moves his chiar Suzie's random array 200 million miles away instantly changes into a different(but equally random) array of colored dots. Suzie is not aware of this change--one random array looks pretty much like any other--but this change actually happens whether she notices it or not.
The phenomenon in this hypothetical world, whether the rainbow moves or not, is completely local: Suzie's rainbow doesn't move when Joe changes places. However, this world's reality--the array of little dots that make up both rainbows--is non-local: Suzie's dots change instantly whenever Joe moves his chair.
Such a non-local contextual world, in which stable rainbows are woven upon a faster-than-light fabric, is an example of the kind of world permited by Bell's theorem."
(It's important to understand that Bell's theorem requires reality, not phenomena, to be superluminally linked)
Non local influences, if they existed, would not be mediated by fields or by anything else. When A connects to B on-locally, nothing crosss the intervening space, hence no amount of interposed matter can shield this interaction.
Non-local influences do not diminish with distance. They are as potent at a million miles as at a millimeter
Non-local influences act instantaneously. The speed of their transmission is not limited by the velocity of light.
A non-local interaction links up one location with another without crossing space, without decay, and without delay. A non-local interaction is, in short, unmediated, unmitigated, and immediate.
(Bell's theorem shows that the holistic grammar of the quantum formalism reflects the inseparable nature of reality itself. Beneath phenomena, the world is a seamless whole.)
Perhaps we are speaking of the same thing here, I'm not sure. New terms may have been applied to this original theory. I cannot tell if we are speaking of the same idea. Please let me know after reading this, if you think we discussing the same ideas in different terms.
dj