Prof. Simon Kochen, Professor Emeritus
Department of Mathematics, Princeton University, USA
In 2006 Simon Kochen and John Conway released their article “The Free Will Theorem”. At the time Kochen said “It’s not about theories anymore -- it’s about what the universe does, and we’ve found that, from moment to moment, nature doesn’t know what it’s going to do. A particle has a choice.”
The theorem has three axioms/assumptions, claimed to be unassailable, called Twin, Spin and Fin (Fin was later replaced by an even weaker axiom called Min).
The Free Will Theorem states: Given the axioms, if the choice about what measurement to take is not a function of the information accessible to the experimenters (Free Will assumption), then the results of the measurements cannot be determined by anything previous to the experiments.
The result has been interpreted by some scientists as strong evidence against the notion of a deterministic Universe. In this talk we will hear Simon’s latest thoughts on the theorem and its implications. The link to join the talk will be circulated in advance by email.
