Testing Einstein's 'Spooky Action at a Distance'

smooth wombat writes "Travelling to a time in the past is, as far as we know, not possible. However, Einstein postulated a faster-than-light effect known as 'spooky action at a distance'. The problem is, how do you test for such an effect? That test may now be here. If all goes well, hopefully by September 15th, John Cramer will have experimented with a beam of laser light which has been split in two to test Einstein's idea. While he is only testing the quantum entanglement portion, changing one light beam and having the same change made in the other beam, his experiment might show that a change made in one beam shows up in the other beam before he actually makes the change."

I think it is already working!!

[QuantumG]

Look, posting this article made this other article from June 12 [slashdot.org] with exactly the same content get posted!

The theory works!

Re:Causality

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean that once the effect shows up in the one light beam, before he does it in the other light beam, he is somehow locked in to his future actions? If not, what happens if he just turns off the device?

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.
Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes...
The dead rising from the grave.
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria.

Amazing

[INeededALogin]

Spooky Action at a Distance describes my sex life exactly.

Spooky? (Couldn't resist)

[LordPhantom]

Well.... he would be successful with his "spooky action", if not for those meddlesome kids!

Re:Isn't all time travel impossible?

[sgt_doom]

You are absolutely correct, human, time travel is essentially impossible.

Sgt. Doom, Galactic Temporal Patrol

Re:Isn't all time travel impossible?

[FriendOfBagu]

If time travel into the past is impossible, then surely that means that all time travel must be impossible. In other words, time travel into the future must be impossible too.

Nonsense!

I, myself, am a time traveler from the past. I've been journeying into the future at a rate of sixty seconds per minute.

Makes my head spin

[Traf-O-Data-Hater]

so I've just sat down and made myself a nice cup of instant tea. The list of ingredients on the teabag's packet say it contains 'Thiotimoline, resublimated, product of China.'

Re:Amazing

[friedman101]

faster-than-light describes mine.

Re:Been there, Done that

[mattmatt]

Sure, we got the results years ago. But if this guy doesn't do the experiment, then we *won't* have got the results...

Re:Been there, Done that

[Brad1138]

Didn't the Aspect Experiment back in the '80s demonstrate this effect?

Well, I looked it over, contemplated it, thought about it in depth for a while and I came to the conclusion that I have no fucking idea what that proves, and now I have a headache, thank you.

Re:Causality

[RuBLed]

If he turns off the device as soon as he sees a result, he would be transported to the realm of Q where he would be tortured and made to drink the soup of earth's first would be inhabitants.. He would only be released when he agrees that he would not turn off the switch thus Q would send him back one second before he turns off the switch thus he would not turn off the switch he turned off in the future... or something like that..

Re:Amazing

[Bluesman]

Don't worry, you'll get another chance yesterday.

Re:Amazing

[plover]

There once was a student named Frisk
Whose sex was exceedingly brisk.
So fast was his action
That the Lorentz Contraction
Reduced his tool to a disk.

Re:but what if....

[kurzweilfreak]

Well, the damage could in fact be limited to our own local galaxy. On the other hand, he could simply go into shock and pass out before Marty and Doc find him.

Re:Amazing

[EnsilZah]

Ha, while you're stuck performing Spooky Action at Distance I'm doing the Double-Slit Experiment.

(No, not really. =\ )

Re:Been there, Done that

[Harmonious Botch]

But he's already done the experiment. Didn't you read the dupe a few years ago?

Re:Isn't all time travel impossible?

[hmccabe]

Relatively speaking, of course.

Re:Very neat and interesting!

[iminplaya]

But we've already done it...

Well there you go.

Re:Been there, Done that

[fbjon]

Exactly. If a change is observed in the other beam, before the actual change has been made in the first beam, simply decide not to make the change in the first place, thereby causing an explosion of the scientists head and the implosion of the entire Universe due to catastrophic logic failure.

Unless you'd like to avoid this, of course, in which case I take payment in Visa, Mastercard, or hookers.

Re:Been there, Done that

[R3d Jack]

Correction: He is already going to do it.

First post!

[OTDR]

Now wait for it....

Actually, the worst thing about TIme Travel

[geekoid]

was 'Time Cop'