EPR Paradox Review

The following thought experiment is a common sense version of the EPR paradox of quantum mechanics proposed by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen.

Experimenter 1 enters a bank and obtains from a teller two bills in each of six denominations: one, five, ten, twenty, fifty, and one hundred. Experimenter 1 enters the safe deposit box area and segregates each bill into a separate envelope, making sure that for each denomination one of the pair is face up while the other is face down with respect to the flap side of its containing envelope. Furthermore, both envelopes of each denomination are placed together inside a larger envelop. In all there are six large envelopes, each of which contains two smaller envelopes, which both contain the same denomination within the larger envelope. All envelopes are sealed and the bills cannot be seen through the envelopes. Experimenter 1 randomly shuffles the six envelopes and places them inside a safe deposit box, and locks it.

Experimenter 1 leaves the bank and gives the safe deposit key to experimenter 2. This is a double blind experiment. Experimenter 2 enters the bank and goes into the safe deposit box area. Experimenter 2 rolls a die, which yields a number from one to six inclusively. Experimenter 2 opens the safe deposit box and removes from the stack of six envelopes the envelope that corresponds to the number on the die. Either counting down from the top or up from the bottom makes no difference to the experiment, although it does make a difference in the outcome. Experimenter 2 returns the other five envelopes to the safe deposit box, locks it, and exits the bank with the one large envelope that was randomly selected. Outside, experimenter 2 opens the large envelope and affixes correct postage and the mailing addresses of two participants, one to each smaller envelope, which remain sealed. Experimenter 2 mails the two letters.

Participant 1 and participant 2 receive the letters in the mail. Participant 1 and participant 2 are located as far away from each other as technically feasible. After confirmation of delivery, the two participants simultaneously open their letters. According to a controversial interpretation of quantum mechanics, before the letters are opened the contents are in a state of quantum superposition. This means that the denominations inside the two letters are indeterminate and fluctuate between all probable combinations up until the letters are opened and examined. This leads to the conclusion that a split second difference in timing determines the denomination of both letters simultaneously. Furthermore, if the letters are separated by a great distance, then under certain conditions that information travels faster than the speed of light. Einstein stipulated that information cannot travel faster than the speed of light, thus the paradox. It was the intent of Einstein and his colleagues in proposing the EPR paradox to prove the absurdity of the Copenhagen interpretation.

In the bank experiment, the probability of the result being any particular denomination is one in six. For any one participant, the probability of the result being face up is one in two. The probability that both participants obtain the same denomination is one, and the probability that the participants obtain the same parity of heads or tails is zero. The Copenhagen interpretation claims that only an observer’s consciousness will collapse the probability wave function and firmly realized the denomination. The common sense interpretation indicates that the denomination was determined at the time experimenter 2 randomly selected the envelope, and that face up was determined at the time the address labels were affixed, both results are predetermined without looking. Counter intuitive interpretations of quantum mechanics led to the conclusion that Schrödinger’s cat is simultaneously both alive and dead.

Einstein refused to believe the “spooky action at a distance” implications of quantum mechanics and Einstein was right. Beta decay is a subatomic embodiment of the EPR paradox. When an atomic element decays by positron emission, pair production makes an electron positron pair from energy. The electron combines with a proton in the nucleus of the atom and becomes a neutron. The positron is emitted and can travel some distance before being annihilated by another electron, which produces a pair of gamma rays. In which case, the results of pair production are two far different outcomes, which contradict the Copenhagen interpretation of the EPR paradox. Therefore, the Copenhagen interpretation is false and Schrödinger’s cat is either alive or dead but not both.

Uncertainty resides in the subject not in the object. The surrounding environment dictates how long the preservation of synchronized properties last between a particle antiparticle pair produced together. Immutable properties preserved throughout the life of a particle derive from the conservation of electric charge and gravitation. In the case of photons this includes polarization. But properties synchronized at pair production that are subject to environmental interaction include momentum, and spin axis orientation.

Quantum entanglement goes far beyond pair production to fantasize mystical quantum level linkages among disparate groups of particles. Misconstrued interpretations of quantum entanglement lead to absurd conclusions. Quantum entanglement is like extending the observed occurrence of identical twins to conclude that all people have identical DNA. This is absurd. The leap from related properties between particle antiparticle pairs to related properties between groups of objects is indefensible on the grounds of pair production. Quantum entanglement beyond pair production is an intellectually bankrupt fantasy, as is any theory based upon it. Attractive and repulsive forces exist at different scales between subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, photons, and masses of both matter and antimatter.

Quantum mechanics is no place to find evidence for consciousness or spiritualism. Free will is a consequence of choice given inconclusive data. New age spiritualism built upon the uncertainty that quantum mechanics purported to predict. Uncertainty exists for two reasons: the glut or dearth of information. No two baseball games are ever the same, due to information glut. Uncertainty in dating arises from information dearth. The act of measurement affects the object being measured, which ruins any attempt to measure properties with absolute precision or in combination.

Consciousness is reinforced self awareness. Spiritualism is coherent group awareness. “Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”¹ Gandhi phrased it this way, “Truth is God,” then there’s the vernacular parlance, “God is love,” or the idiomatic, “two heads are better than one.” Even widespread belief in false theories is a form of coherence. With coordinated effort, coherence builds correlations between disparate entities, whereas the concept of quantum entanglement is intellectually bankrupt. Enough about fantasies, let’s return to the real world.

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¹Matthew 18:20