# Separability, Contextuality, and the Quantum Frame Problem

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.10010 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.10010/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 10 of its 114 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Apr 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [An Introduction to Variational Autoencoders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02691/) (2019)
- [A free energy principle for a particular physics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.10184/) (2019)
- [On the Logic of Causal Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1304.2355/) (2013)
- [When the map is better than the territory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.09592/) (2016)
- [A free energy principle for generic quantum systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.15242/) (2021)
- [Contextuality: At the Borders of Paradox](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.04899/) (2020)
- [Control flow in active inference systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.01514/) (2023)
- [The Topology of Causality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.07148/) (2023)
- [Semantic Integration in the Information Flow Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.08236/) (2018)
- [The Geometry of Causality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09017/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Contemplative Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.15125/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We study the relationship between assumptions of state separability and both preparation and measurement contextuality, and the relationship of both of these to the frame problem, the problem of predicting what does not change in consequence of an action. We state a quantum analog of the latter and prove its undecidability. We show how contextuality is generically induced in state preparation and measurement by basis choice, thermodynamic exchange, and the imposition of a priori causal models, and how fine-tuning assumptions appear ubiquitously in settings characterized as non-contextual.