What Bell Did

TL;DR

This paper clarifies Bell's theorem by revisiting the historical and logical context, emphasizing that violations of Bell's inequality imply the non-local nature of our universe, countering common misunderstandings.

Contribution

It provides a detailed historical and logical analysis of Bell's theorem, clarifying its implications about non-locality in quantum physics.

Findings

Violations of Bell's inequality imply non-locality.

Historical analysis clarifies Bell's original proof.

Counteracts misconceptions about Bell's theorem.

Abstract

On the 50th anniversary of Bell's monumental 1964 paper, there is still widespread misunderstanding about exactly what Bell proved. This misunderstanding derives in turn from a failure to appreciate the earlier arguments of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen. I retrace the history and logical structure of these arguments in order to clarify the proper conclusion, namely that any world that displays violations of Bell's inequality for experiments done far from one another must be non-local. Since the world we happen to live in displays such violations, actual physics is non-local.