According to
some interpretations of quantum mechanics, the effect of one measurement occurs instantly. Other interpretations which don't recognize
wavefunction collapse, dispute that there is any "effect" at all. After all, if the separation between two events is
spacelike, then observers in different
inertial frames will disagree about the order of events. Joe will see that the detection at point
A occurred first, and could not have been caused by the measurement at point
B, while Mary (moving at a different velocity) will be certain that the measurement at point
B occurred first and could not have been caused by the
A measurement. Of course both Joe and Mary are correct: there is no demonstrable cause and effect. However all interpretations agree that entanglement produces
correlation between the measurements, and that the
mutual information between the entangled particles can be exploited,
but that any transmission of information at faster-than-light speeds is impossible.
[9] [10]
In May 2018, researchers performed
Bell test experiments in which further "loopholes" were closed.
[11][12]
Entanglement is considered fundamental to quantum mechanics, even though it wasn't recognized in the beginning. Quantum entanglement has been demonstrated experimentally with
photons,
[13][14][15][16] neutrinos,
[17]electrons,
[18][19] molecules as large as
buckyballs,
[20][21] and even small diamonds.
[22][23] The utilization of entanglement in
communication and
computation is a very active area of research.
. Assuming we don't make ourselves extinct but even if we do long term the atmosphere/Earth will recover and something will survive.
