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If We Have Free Will, Then So Do Electrons

Posted by kdawson on from the hard-to-pin-down dept.

snahgle writes "Mathematicians John Conway (inventor of the Game of Life) and Simon Kochen of Princeton University have proven that if human experimenters demonstrate 'free will' in choosing what measurements to take on a particle, then the axioms of quantum mechanics require that the free will property be available to the particles measured, or to the universe as a whole. Conway is giving a series of lectures on the 'Free Will Theorem' and its ramifications over the next month at Princeton. A followup article strengthening the theory (PDF) was published last month in Notices of the AMS." Update: 03/19 14:20 GMT by KD : jamie points out that we discussed this theorem last year, before the paper had been published.

1 of 610 comments (clear)

  1. Mod parent up - God damn the Mod Points system by uss · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Can someone please spare a few mod points for the parent, to bring it up to 5-Informative?