The Contradiction of "Instantaneous Action" by Betsy Speicher Some attempts have been made to explain the results of the Double-Delayed Choice experiment in terms of immediate, instantaneous, non-local action or "instantaneous action at a distance." This can - and should - be rejected on philosophical grounds because "instantaneous action" is a contradiction in terms. Length, depth, and width are measures of spatially extended objects. Those measures may be extremely large or small, but they cannot be INFINITELY large or small. They must have a SPECIFIC measure. Otherwise, they have no identity. All things that exist must have an identity. Thus, a concept like a "dimensionless point in space" might possibly have some value as a mathematical tool, but, because it has no identity, such a point cannot really exist. The law of identity also applies to actions. In fact, "The law of causality," explained philosopher Ayn Rand, "is the law of identity applied to action." [_Atlas Shrugged, p.954] Actions must have identities, too, or they cannot be real. Actions must have FINITE MEASUREMENTS. Ayn Rand also noted, as did Aristotle, that time is a measure of motion. ("Motion" here is used in the Aristotelian sense to mean any action and not just movement in space. It takes time to think an issue through and for other non-spatial actions.) The duration of an action may be extremely large or small, but it cannot be INFINITELY large or small. It must have a SPECIFIC measure. Otherwise, the action has no identity. This is how philosopher Harry Binswanger summed it up: "Every unit of length, no matter how small, has some specific extension; every unit of time, no matter how small, has some specific duration. The idea of an infinitely small amount of length or temporal duration has validity only as a mathematical device useful for making certain calculations, not as a description of components of reality." ["Q & A Department: Identity and Motion," The Objectivist Forum, Dec., 1981, Page 13, emphasis his] Thus, a concept like an "instantaneous action" is metaphysically invalid. Because such an action has no duration, it has no identity, and thus it cannot really exist. It certainly cannot be the underlying metaphysical assumption of a true scientific theory that correctly describes the real world. © 2002 Betsy Speicher Betsy Speicher's CyberNet Ayn Rand's Ideas in Action! Physics.prodos.ORG Discuss Lewis Little's Theory of Elementary Waves PRODOS.COM Internet radio for the active minded!