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Comment by mg | Hacker News Reader

Maybe there are no secrets, but every time a new experiment is conducted, the universe randomly decides the outcome and then sticks to it?

I think this is what we assume about small things already, like the position of a previously unmeasured photon or the spin of a previously unmeasured electron, right? Neither the photon has a position, nor the electron has a spin, but we measure one. And from then on, the the universe acts according to the measured values.

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If that were true, what difference would it make? We would do everything exactly the same as how we would otherwise. There's also no way of testing your hypothesis becauase of that. It might fit well in a good hard sci-fi novel though.

"Consider the practical effects of the objects of your conception. Then, your conception of those effects is the whole of your conception of the object."

In quantum theory, it surprisingly was possible to test the hypothesis that things don't have a state before we measure them and then they stick to that state.

So I wouldn't rule out the possibility that we can test it for other "secrets of the universe".

This isn't true. This is exactly why we have multiple interpretations of quantum mechanics.

There are always infinite interpretations of everything.

But the "no hidden variables" theory is the most popular and well tested theory about whether things have a state before we measure it. And it postulates that they don't.

It's not tested at all. No local hidden variables is just a priori true though. It's not part of any interpretation. All of them are subject to it. This is irrelevant though because there are alternatives to local hidden variables like pilot wave theory, the so-called many words interpretation, relationalism (i.e. inherent nondeterminism) and there's no way to test between any of them.

    It's not tested at all

This is what Wikipedia says about hidden variables:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics

    Many Bell tests have been performed and
    they have shown results incompatible
    with the constraints imposed by local
    hidden variables.

In any case, your point is moot.

Maybe, but from a practical perspective even if this crazy hypothesis were true, the distinction is irrelevant.

Why is it irrelevant for the universe, but not for electrons?

Well it all continues as per laws of physics just as we expect. No surprising effect on macro world.

We see more surprising effects than expected effects.

95% of our explanation for how the universe behaves is "dark matter" or "dark energy".

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