Using humans to switch the settings in a Bell experiment

          @misc{ pirsa_18040104,
            doi = {10.48660/18040104},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/18040104},
            author = {Hardy, Lucien},
            keywords = {Quantum Foundations},
            language = {en},
            title = {Using humans to switch the settings in a Bell experiment},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2018},
            month = {apr},
            note = {PIRSA:18040104 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

I discuss how we might go about about performing a Bell experiment in which humans are used to decide the settings at each end. To get a sufficiently high rate of switching at both ends, I suggest an experiment over a distance of about 100km with 100 people at each end wearing EEG headsets, with the signals from these headsets being used to switch the settings. The radical possibility we wish to investigate is that, when humans are used to decide the settings (rather than various types of random number generators), we might then expect to see a violation of Quantum Theory in agreement with the relevant Bell inequality. Such a result, while very unlikely, would be tremendously significant for our understanding of the world (and I will discuss some interpretations). Possible radical implications aside, performing an experiment like this would push the development of new technologies. The biggest problem would be to get sufficiently high rates wherein there has been a human induced switch at each end before a signal as to the new value of the setting could be communicated to the other end and, at the same time, a photon pair is detected. It looks like an experiment like this, while challenging, is just about feasible with current technologies.