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Psychological Perspectives

Nonlocality in physics and psychology

J. S. Bell

Published Sep 1, 1988• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Walking through the guarded gate of CERN. a center for peaceful atomic research near Geneva, Switzerland, one finds oneself in what seems to be a typical industrial park Upon coming to thefirst corner, one has a sense of the surreal tofind pleasant signs marking it as the intersection of Einstein and W. Pauli streets. Ambling along a bit further, one comes to a quiet, treeshaded building housing the office of theoretical physicist, John Stewart Bell, whose work on “nonlocality” is regarded by some as fermenting yet another conceptual revolution in our world view. With an almost shy Irish brogue from his native Dublin, however, Bell modestly disavows any such significance to what is called “Bell's Inequality” in the literature of quantum physics. In this interview, our editor queried Bell on the relevance of his work for Jung's view of synchronicity as a non- causal factor in human affairs. Bell cautions that everything he says here is only his “opinion of the mystery and muddle of it all.”

DOI
10.1080/00332928808410426

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John Stewart Bell and the debate on the significance of his contributions to the foundations of quantum mechanics, M.Jammer John Bell as a deep critical testimony of modern physics, V. de Alfaro magic moments with John Bell, R. Bertlmann what if Bell had come before Copenhagen?, J. Cushing quantum mechanics vs. realism in the context of two-state oscillations, D. Home one or two bell theorems?, B. Despagnat self interference of two photons, J. Rarity polarization correlation analysis of the simultaneous two-photon emission of metastable hydrogen, H. Kleinpoppen unneeded use of Bell inequalities conceals the physics in the EPR subject, O. Piccioni Bell's other theorem and its connection with nonlocality - Part 1 H. Brown Bell's other theorem and its connection with nonlocality - Part 2 A. Elby historical reflections on the notion of an objective reality, P .Feyerabend interference, indistinguishability and nonlocality, L. Mandel quantum physics from the viewpoint of realism, F. Selleri (Part contents).

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Walking through the guarded gate of CERN. a center for peaceful atomic research near Geneva, Switzerland, one finds oneself in what seems to be a typical industrial park Upon coming to thefirst corner, one has a sense of the surreal tofind pleasant signs marking it as the intersection of Einstein and W. Pauli streets. Ambling along a bit further, one comes to a quiet, treeshaded building housing the office of theoretical physicist, John Stewart Bell, whose work on “nonlocality” is regarded by some as fermenting yet another conceptual revolution in our world view. With an almost shy Irish brogue from his native Dublin, however, Bell modestly disavows any such significance to what is called “Bell's Inequality” in the literature of quantum physics. In this interview, our editor queried Bell on the relevance of his work for Jung's view of synchronicity as a non- causal factor in human affairs. Bell cautions that everything he says here is only his “opinion of the mystery and muddle of it all.”
Until now, orthodox science has not had any real reason to question the “locality” assumption about reality, which maintains that all cause-and-effect relationships are mediated by some form of local interaction: One cue ball strikes another cue ball at a definite locus; the cog wheels of machines inter mesh locally because the teeth of the wheels actually touch and push each other. “Locality” underlies a11 our commonsensical beliefs about normal cause-effect, rational interactions in science and everyday life. Jung, however, found it necessary to postulate “synchronicity” as an a causal reality to account for many psychological phenomena that apparently could not be accounted for in terms of this ordinary view of local, cause-effect relationships. The recent experimental confirmation of Bell's Theorem may be the first scientific evidence against the locality assumption. It suggests that non-locality at the quantum level underlies all phenomena—even at the common everyday level of reality as we experience it. We can only wonder if this research, summarized here by physicist Nick Herbert, can serve as a new empirical foundation for Jung's concept of synchronicity. of particular interest is Herbert's statement that nonlocal “unmediated connections are present not only in rare and exotic circumstances, but underlie all the events of everyday life.” If this is true, then it would support Meier's general theory of synchronicity versus Jung's special theory [see interview with CA. Meier in this issue]. Herbert has re-edited and clarified his description of “How Bell Proved Reality Cannot be Local” from his book, Quantum Reality (1985. Doubleday). Herbert will be a speaker at the Fall Conference on “God, Consciousness, and Quantum Reality,” to be sponsored by Psychological Perspectives on November 12, 1988.
Abstract In the strange new world of quantum physics we have consistently uncovered aspects of physical reality at odds with our everyday sense of this reality. But no previous discovery has posed more challenges to our usual understanding of the “way things are” than the amazing new fact of nature known as nonlocality. This new fact of nature was revealed in a series of experiments testing predictions made in a theorem developed by theoretical physicist John Bell in response to a number of questions raised by Albert Einstein and two younger colleagues in 1936. Although Bell’s now famous theorem led to the discovery that physical reality is non-local, this was not his primary motive for developing the theorem, and he was quite disappointed by the results of experiments testing the theorem.
John Stewart Bell and the debate on the significance of his contributions to the foundations of quantum mechanics, M.Jammer John Bell as a deep critical testimony of modern physics, V. de Alfaro magic moments with John Bell, R. Bertlmann what if Bell had come before Copenhagen?, J. Cushing quantum mechanics vs. realism in the context of two-state oscillations, D. Home one or two bell theorems?, B. Despagnat self interference of two photons, J. Rarity polarization correlation analysis of the simultaneous two-photon emission of metastable hydrogen, H. Kleinpoppen unneeded use of Bell inequalities conceals the physics in the EPR subject, O. Piccioni Bell's other theorem and its connection with nonlocality - Part 1 H. Brown Bell's other theorem and its connection with nonlocality - Part 2 A. Elby historical reflections on the notion of an objective reality, P .Feyerabend interference, indistinguishability and nonlocality, L. Mandel quantum physics from the viewpoint of realism, F. Selleri (Part contents).