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arXiv · 1805.02143

Bell's Theory of Beables and the Concept of `Universe'

Ian T. Durham
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Abstract

From its earliest days nearly a century ago, quantum mechanics has proven itself to be a tremendously accurate yet intellectually unsatisfying theory to many. Not the least of its problems is that it is a theory about the results of measurements. As John Bell once said in introducing the concept of `beables', it should be possible to say what is rather than merely what is observed. In this essay I consider the question of whether a universe can be a (nonlocal) beable and what that implies about the fundamental nature of that universe. I conclude that a universe that is a beable within the framework of certain theories, cannot also be fundamental.

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Ian T. Durham. 2018-05-06. Bell's Theory of Beables and the Concept of `Universe'. https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.02143

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