Re:Pilot-Wave Theory Gains Experimental Support
by btilly on Tuesday May 17, 2016 @05:43PM
(#11717727)
I have no idea how you get from my words to, "...support for a theory is meaningless unless it is absolutely conclusive."
What I said is that if the outcome of an experiment is predicted by two different theories, getting the expected result does nothing to help you decide between them. It happens to be the case that ANY experiment that is in accord with quantum mechanics is equally well explained by EVERY interpretation of quantum mechanics. The result is that most working physicists so not consider wondering about the right interpretation to be a useful scientific endeavor. Indeed most will gladly affirm that they belong to the "shut up and calculate" school of physics in practice.
There are plenty of detailed questions within quantum mechanics which can be asked and answered by experiment. That is what scientists tend to do instead of debating interpretations.
What I said is that if the outcome of an experiment is predicted by two different theories, getting the expected result does nothing to help you decide between them. It happens to be the case that ANY experiment that is in accord with quantum mechanics is equally well explained by EVERY interpretation of quantum mechanics. The result is that most working physicists so not consider wondering about the right interpretation to be a useful scientific endeavor. Indeed most will gladly affirm that they belong to the "shut up and calculate" school of physics in practice.
There are plenty of detailed questions within quantum mechanics which can be asked and answered by experiment. That is what scientists tend to do instead of debating interpretations.