Bell's inequality and contextual information

The properties of the Shannon entropy (concavity and strong additivity) are satisfied in both classical and quantum experiments, if the context of experiment is considered appropriately. We show that these properties hold true in a classical model with the feature of being contextual, where a correlation is observed between events. Our results show that the classical example is similar to an entangled singlet state for spin- 1 2 particles. But, contrary to general opinion, Ientgld corr > 1 is not a necessary and sufficient condition for violating Bell’s inequality, since it has been obtained on the basis of a common cause pattern. In other words, it is possible to reconstruct the amount of information contained in a quantum entangled state according to the common cause criterion satisfying local realism

Common Cause and Contextual Realization of Bell Correlation

Considering the common cause principle, we construct a localcontextual hidden-variable model for the Bohm version of EPR experiment. Our proposed model can reproduce the predictions of quantum mechanics. It can be also extended to classical examples in which similar correlations may be revealed.

Is there room in quantum ontology for a genuine causal role of consciousness?

Western philosophy and science have a strongly dualistic tradition regarding the mental and physical aspects of reality, which makes it difficult to understand their possible causal relations. In recent debates in cognitive neuroscience it has been common to claim on the basis of neural experiments that conscious experiences are causally inefficacious. At the same time there is much evidence that consciousness does play an important role in guiding behavior. This article explores whether a new way of understanding the causal role of mental states and consciousness could be provided by the ontological interpretation of the quantum theory (Bohm and Hiley 1987, 1993). This interpretation radically changes our notion of matter by suggesting that a new type of active information plays a causal role at the quantum level of reality. The strategy of the paper will thus be to consider to what extent the alleged causal powers of consciousness involve information, and then move on to consider whether information in (conscious) mental states can be connected to the information at the level of quantum physics. In this way we are sketching how quantum theory might help to throw light upon one of the Grand Challenges facing the social sciences and the humanities, namely the question of whether consciousness plays any genuine causal role in the physical world.Peer reviewe