NONLOCALITY: THE PRICE OF DETERMINISM & REALISM

Abstract. Since the introduction of quantum theory there was a great un-satisfaction with its interpretation. Today, after nearly a century in which the theory has been tested and provided us with unpresidential agreement with experiments, quantum mechanics prevailed and is considered to be one of the cornerstones of modern physics. Yet the nondeterministic consequences of the measurement process and the collapse of the wave function in the Copenhagen interpretation are far from being pleasing or even well understood. This paper presents an alternative interpretation of quantum mechanics due to Bohm in which determinism is preserved, and quantum effects are the outcome of “hid-den variables”. It is shown by Bell’s inequality that any deterministic hidden variable theory that produces the results of quantum mechanics (and in partic-ular Bohm’s) is nonlocal. We conclude with a discussion of the philosophical implications of Bell’s inequality and Bohm’s interpretation of quantum me-chanics. 1