Comment by jiggawatts

Quantum mechanics is a religion with mathematics instead of just holy texts.

Several studies have been done into whether practicing theoretical physicists using QM in their everyday work agree on the most basic tenets of the field.

Spoiler: they disagree on every aspect while simultaneously assuming that their opinions are correct and that everyone else agrees with them.

That’s how religions work, not how science does. Factions instead of consensus. Branches splitting off all the time and never supplanting the majority. Orthodoxy (Copenhagen). Shunning anyone that steps out of line (Everett). Refusing to question the holy texts, etc…

Another key symptom is requiring members to prove their devotion by saying and doing things that are obvious nonsense. Bending their common sense to the will of the group. In Christianity this is the trinity: one God that is three. In QM it’s the wave-particle duality, which is just nonsense. You can’t have a point with a kilometre long wavelength!! Yet, we are to believe (on faith!) that radio waves are made of photons.

Turns out that magical thinking and religiosity is the essential nature of humans, especially in large groups.

Whenever there is insufficient evidence to bring everyone into line, the line splinters into warring factions where the best argument each tribe has is: “my tribal leader said so!”