On the operational refutation of Bell's theorem
I think we have somehow lost sight of the operational definition of Bell's theorem in the latest threads. Even those of you who think that the proof of Bell's theorem is wrong can't rule out the possibility that his conclusion is correct, can you? I mean, I could come up with a horribly wrong proof of Fermat's last theorem, but in some sense I would still have gotten to the right conclusion, wouldn't I? (since we now have Andrew Wiles' correct proof).
So, the only way to prove Bell wrong is to come up with a counterexample. Here is how that must work:
We have three computers, called SOURCE, ALICE, and BOB. There are two communication channels, one from SOURCE to ALICE, and one from SOURCE to BOB. The channels are one way, i.e, you can only send data from SOURCE to ALICE, not the other way. The same goes for SOURCE to BOB.
At fixed intervals, the computer SOURCE should send a data package to ALICE and BOB. The data package can be anything. Upon reception, the computer ALICE will also receive one of two setting a=0 or a'=45 from the outside, that is, exogenously given. The computer ALICE should then produce an output of either +1 or -1. The same goes for BOB, with exogenously received settings either b=22.5 or b'=67.5.
We do this 10 000 times. Collect the results for ALICE and BOB. Match the 10 000 pairs for ALICE and BOB. Compute the following for each of the four combinations (a,b), (a,b'), (a',b), (a',b'):
[(Number of same results) - (Number of different results)]/(Total results for the combination)
We now have four correlations. If the exogenously given settings are generated at random (in any sensible sense of the word "random", e.g. by an RNG), Bell's theorem (or rather the CHSH theorem) says that at least one of them will be way off from what QM predicts (at least 0.2 off).
For anyone who wants to refute Bell's theorem, there is only one way forward: write computer programs that adhere to the above specifications and at the same time reproduce the four QM predictions for the correlations, within sensible error margins.
So, the only way to prove Bell wrong is to come up with a counterexample. Here is how that must work:
We have three computers, called SOURCE, ALICE, and BOB. There are two communication channels, one from SOURCE to ALICE, and one from SOURCE to BOB. The channels are one way, i.e, you can only send data from SOURCE to ALICE, not the other way. The same goes for SOURCE to BOB.
At fixed intervals, the computer SOURCE should send a data package to ALICE and BOB. The data package can be anything. Upon reception, the computer ALICE will also receive one of two setting a=0 or a'=45 from the outside, that is, exogenously given. The computer ALICE should then produce an output of either +1 or -1. The same goes for BOB, with exogenously received settings either b=22.5 or b'=67.5.
We do this 10 000 times. Collect the results for ALICE and BOB. Match the 10 000 pairs for ALICE and BOB. Compute the following for each of the four combinations (a,b), (a,b'), (a',b), (a',b'):
[(Number of same results) - (Number of different results)]/(Total results for the combination)
We now have four correlations. If the exogenously given settings are generated at random (in any sensible sense of the word "random", e.g. by an RNG), Bell's theorem (or rather the CHSH theorem) says that at least one of them will be way off from what QM predicts (at least 0.2 off).
For anyone who wants to refute Bell's theorem, there is only one way forward: write computer programs that adhere to the above specifications and at the same time reproduce the four QM predictions for the correlations, within sensible error margins.
