Tim Maudlin: Quantum Nonlocality Explained FROM SCRATCH
Tim Maudlin: Quantum Nonlocality Explained FROM SCRATCH  
Podcast: Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal
Published On: Mon Aug 31 2026
Description: SPONSORS: - Go to https://www.plaud.ai/curt and use the promo code "CURT" to get a Plaud device today - Visit https://mod.com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order PLUS free shipping with promo code TOE. - I personally subscribe to The Economist. FLASH SALE through Sep 23, 2026: 60% off the annual subscription! No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOE This is Part Two of the previous lecture with Tim Maudlin (which went obscenely viral). It is the one with Bell's theorem in it. Maudlin traces how David Bohm's reframing of EPR using particle spin opened the door for Bell's 1964 proof, walked through step by step with a simple chart of coin flips: any theory ruling out "spooky action at a distance" must be deterministic, and no such local theory can match quantum mechanics's actual statistics. We cover common misreadings of Bell — that he assumed determinism (he didn't) and that his "free variables" require free will (they don't) — and close with the 1989 GHZ experiment, a cleaner, fully deterministic version of the same proof. Along the way: why Einstein's real objection was locality, not indeterminism, and why Maudlin calls the death of locality the most astonishing proof in the history of physics. Part Three is still to come. Stay tuned. FOLLOW: - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e - Substack: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe - Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt - Discord: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs - Crypto: https://nowpayments.io/donation/TOE - PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE TIMESTAMPS: - 00:00 - EPR Completeness Criterion - 05:25 - Einstein’s Reality Criterion - 10:40 - Locality Implies Determinism - 16:20 - Bohm’s Spin Reformulation - 22:40 - Entangled Spin States - 27:40 - Stern-Gerlach and Quantization - 34:40 - Infinite Experimental Orientations - 41:00 - Heisenberg Uncertainty in Spin - 47:15 - The Singlet State Symmetry - 57:40 - Einstein vs. Copenhagen - 01:02:40 - Pilot Wave Theory Ontology - 01:11:30 - Configuration Space vs. Reality - 01:23:40 - Von Neumann’s "Foolish" Proof - 01:31:45 - Eliminating the Observer - 01:41:15 - Kochen-Specker and Contextuality - 01:51:15 - Contrapositive Logic of EPR - 02:03:10 - Offset Angles and Statistics - 02:14:00 - Bell’s Mathematical Impossibility - 02:20:00 - The 75% Disagreement Proof - 02:31:00 - Many Worlds Non-Locality - 02:37:15 - Statistical Independence Assumption - 02:42:50 - Free Will Red Herring - 02:54:40 - GHZ Three-Particle Entanglement - 03:03:30 - Mermin’s Cocktail Napkin Proof - 03:11:30 - Superdeterminism and Matrix Loopholes LINKS MENTIONED: - Tim Maudlin [Part 1]: https://youtu.be/9R0wrBpafYI - Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete? [Paper]: https://www.drchinese.com/David/EPR.pdf - A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of "Hidden" Variables [Paper]: https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.85.166 - On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox [Paper]: https://journals.aps.org/ppf/pdf/10.1103/PhysicsPhysiqueFizika.1.195 - Bertlmann's Socks [Paper]: https://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~pbarfuss/Bertlmann'sSocks.pdf - Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0691028931?tag=toe08-20 - Quantum Theory [Book]: https://amazon.com/dp/0486659690?tag=toe08-20 - A Simple Proof of the Kochen-Specker Theorem [Paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/0801.4931 More links at https://curtjaimungal.com Guests do not pay to appear. #science Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices