> "not calculated until you look".
It's unfortunate how much the jargon around quantum physics has been misconstrued by the general public.
It's unfortunate how much the jargon around quantum physics has been misconstrued by the general public.
[1] For you who don't know, the finger(1) command and protocol would return you the status of someone logged in and what they were working on (if they had set their status). Sort of like Google Chat used to do before they ruined it.
I have a similar story about, on request, describing the sorts of day-to-day things I then did to a family member who doesn't have a conception of what "internet companies" do.
It involved databases and the phrase "take a dump".
What you are suggesting is there is a hidden variable theory.
A lot of people make statements which assume the truth of some particular interpretation of quantum physics, without realising that it is just one of many. Many advocates of "quantum mysticism" are adopting the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation ("consciousness causes collapse"), and they often misidentify that as "Copenhagen" even though it isn't. But on the other hand, many of their detractors are committing a similar error, and presuming Copenhagen or many worlds as if it was the actual physics as opposed to just one of many competing philosophical interpretations of it.
Assigning metaphysical implications is declared out of bounds. It's a useful compromise.