No-Common-Cause Epr-Like Funny Business in Branching Space-Times

There is "no EPR-like funny business" if (contrary to apparent fact) our world is as indeterministic as you wish, but is free from the EPR-like quantum mechanical phenomena such as is sometimes described in terms of superluminal causation or correlation between distant events. The theory o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical studies 2003-06, Vol.114 (3), p.199-221
Main Author: Belnap, Nuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Causality
Causation
Coincidence
Cosmology
matter, space, time
Existence
General points
History of science and technology
Phenomena
Philosophical analysis
Philosophy of science
Physical sciences and techniques
Physics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum physics
Scholarly publishing
Separated status
Social research
Space
Spacetime
Theoretical physics
Theory
Time
Tree structures
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Summary:There is "no EPR-like funny business" if (contrary to apparent fact) our world is as indeterministic as you wish, but is free from the EPR-like quantum mechanical phenomena such as is sometimes described in terms of superluminal causation or correlation between distant events. The theory of branching space-times can be used to sharpen the theoretical dichotomy between "EPR-like funny business" and "no EPR-like funny business". Belnap (2002) offered two analyses of the dichotomy, and proved them equivalent. This essay adds two more, both connected with Reichenbach's "principle of the common cause", the principle that sends us hunting for a common-causal explanation of distant correlations. The two previous ideas of funny business and the two ideas introduced in this essay are proved to be all equivalent, which increases one's confidence in the stability of (and helpfulness of) the BST analysis of the dichotomy between EPR-like funny business and its absence.
ISSN:0031-8116
1573-0883
DOI:10.1023/A:1024900720697