On my travels around the World Wide Web I came
across this explanation of "hidden variables"
which I found both succinct and encouraging.
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HIDDEN VARIABLES
This interpretation is based on the
assumption that all the usual versions
of quantum mechanics are incomplete,
and that there is an underlying layer
of reality which contains additional
information about the world.
This additional information is in the
form of the hidden variables.
If physicists knew the values of these
hidden variables, the arguments goes,
they could predict the precise outcomes
of particular measurements, not just
the probabilities of getting particular
results.
A helpful analogy can be made with a
pack of playing cards prepared by a
cheating card dealer. He knows precisely
the sequence in the deck; only the
ignorant gamblers insist that the chance
of picking a particular card is 1 in 52.
Thus, it seems that the hidden variables
idea is much more sensible than the
Copenhagen interpretation. However, it
was ignored by most physicists largely
because the mathematician John von Neumann
had devised a proof that they could not
work in the quantum world.
Eventually, it is shown that the whole
argument against hidden variables was based
on an unfounded assumption. The key feature
of hidden variables theory, which still
disturbs many people is that they are
essentially non-local. It is shown lately
that non-locality is an integral part of
the quantum world.
Finally, the idea of hidden variables is
taken more seriously by more scientists
in the last ten years.
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Naturally, with my hierarchical views, etc., I
realise that since nature is fractal and it's
elephants all the way down, there must always
be hidden variables no matter how far we dig.
I view QM (and SR/GR for that matter) as a
pathetic attempt to tie Nature down to their
irrational Procrustean bed.
Cheers,
Frank Grimer
