Exclusion of Time in Mermin's Proof of Bell-Type Inequalities

Abstract

Mermin states that his nontechnical version of Bell's theorem stands and is not invalidated by time and setting dependent instrument parameters as claimed in one of our previous papers. We identify deviations from well-established protocol in probability theory as well as mathematical contradictions in Mermin's argument and show that Mermin's conclusions are therefore not valid: his proof does not go forward if certain possible time dependencies are taken into account.