From the beginning, the implications of quantum theory for our most
general understanding of the world have been a matter of intense
debate. Einstein argues that the theory had to be regarded as
fundamentally incomplete. Its inability, for example, to predict
the exact time of decay of a single radioactive atom had to be due
to a failure of the theory and not due to a permanent inability on
our part or a fundamental indeterminism in nature itself. In 1964,
John Bell derived a theorem which showed that any deterministic
theory which preserved "locality" (i.e., which rejected action at a
distance) would have certain consequences for measurements
performed at a distance from one another. An experimental check
seems to show that these consequences are not, in fact, realized.
The correlation between the sets of events is much stronger than
any "local" deterministic theory could allow. What is more, this
stronger correlation is precisely that which is predicted by
quantum theory. The astonishing result is that local deterministic
theories of the classical sort seem to be permanently excluded. Not
only can the individual decay not be predicted, but no future
theory can ever predict it. The contributors in this volume wrestle
with this conclusion. Some welcome it; others leave open a return
to at lease some kind of deterministic world, one which must
however allow something like action-at-a distance. How much lit it?
And how can one avoid violating relativity theory, which excludes
action-at-a-distance? How can a clash between the two fundamental
theories of modern physics, relativity and quantum theory, be
avoided? What are the consequences for the traditional philosophic
issue of causality explanation and objectivity? One thing is
certain; we can never return to the comfortable Newtonian world
where everything that happened was, in principle, predictable and
where what happened at one measurement site could not affect
another set of measurements being performed light-years away, at a
distance that a light-signal could not bridge. Contributors: James
T. Cushing, Abner Shimony, N. David Mermin, Jon P. Jarrett, Linda
Wessels, Bas C. van Fraassen, Jeremy Butterfield, Michael L. G.
Redhead, Henry P. Stapp, Arthur Fine, R. I. G. Hughes, Paul Teller,
Don Howard, Henry J. Folse, and Ernan McMullin.
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