Why even physicists still don't understand quantum theory 100 years on

[usonian]

Quantum mechanics depicts a counter-intuitive reality in which the act of observation influences what is observed — and few can agree on what that means.

By Sean Carroll

And I tunneled through a paywall. Faster than Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th dimension!

Nature.
https://archive.ph/EMw8E

So much here, but this gives a flavor of the article. (Not a pun)

So, physicists don’t agree on what precisely a measurement is, whether wavefunctions represent physical reality, whether there are physical variables in addition to the wavefunction or whether the wavefunction always obeys the Schrödinger equation. Despite all this, modern quantum mechanics has given us some of the most precisely tested predictions in all of science, with agreement between theory and experiment stretching to many decimal places.

[alittlelark]

1. I think dedicated psychonauts understand it better.....

….. they’ve been there.

[Klarkashton]

2. After 400 pages of linear algebra and the wave equation

They can't get past the hydrogen atom.

What am I missing?

[LearnedHand]

5. A math professor once told me the reason mathematicians don't do arithmetic

Is because it's too hard. I wonder if a similar principle is at work here with the hydrogen atom?

[BadgerKid]

6. Usually it's the simplest mathematical models that have exact solutions.

Models in general are intended to be an approximation of reality. It turns out that to go beyond hydrogen you basically smooth together multiple hydrogen models and use computers to generate a numerical solution.

[Blue Owl]

3. Somehow we have reached the age of quantum stupidity

Nobody understands it and it can’t be real….

[usonian]

4. Are you saying that something can't be real if we don't understand it?

Or did I misinterpret you?
No matter (pun unintended)

I stopped taking physics courses first (and last) year of grad school. My math skills fell off a cliff.

I later got into classical optics and electronics. My connection with physics returned as a staff person for the Berkeley physics department. No equations were solved in my work. ⚛️

[ProfessorGAC]

7. As I Understand It...

...it's more a matter of being able to real, just that we can't absolutely prove it.
It's real to us, but that's not necessarily accurate. Might be, might not.