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What’s all the fuss about quantum entanglement anyway?
Your definitive guide to quantum nonlocality
Quantum entanglement is often claimed to be responsible for nonlocality in Nature. Albert Einstein is famously caricatured as hating it, referring to it as:
Spooky action at a distance.
While popular science outlets claim that entanglement allows instantaneous influence across any distance, that’s not really what quantum physics says is happening. Nonlocality really means that it’s impossible to define a physical model of reality that is local. If you have a burning desire to understand this, I have a story for you.
Alice and Bob
I have two friends, Alice and Bob. Soon, they will be your friends. Since I’m a nice guy, I will give each of them a gift. It’s nothing special — just a box with a couple of buttons and lights on it.
When the left button is pressed, the right light comes on… sometimes. Sometimes, the left light comes on. The same is true of the right button. In fact, no matter what button is pressed, the light pattern is completely random.
