In middle school, I had my mind blown by this video

and devoted the next ~4 years of my life to (badly) studying theoretical physics. I read primary sources (Einstein, Dirac...).

I remember none of the math and all of the ontological bullshit. I hate it.

The stuff hasn't proven relevant since. Of course the math wouldn't bc I'm not an academic physicist. The bullshit ontology doesn't bc I'm not in those communities

So I have kind of a personal, emotional commitment to the Many Worlds Interpretation. So I didn't waste 1/4 my life

This is probably the attitude that drives a lot of bad science.

I'm only joking about the commitment. But I can imagine the feeling of spending a significant portion of your life on something wrong.

And even for me, it still does kinda suck. *Blames education*

I think ontology is a valid pursuit, when it relates very directly to observational possibility. David Deutsch's perspective is pretty much right.

But it takes a *lot* of experience to be productively doing ontology. Bad ontology shouldn't be out there baiting middle schoolers

I shudder to think, what if I had been lured in by the Copenhagen Interpretation instead. This stuff (i.e. the edges of academic science) being publically accessible, even promoted, is SUPER DANGEROUS AND BAD.

This thread is related. https://twitter.com/mlegls/status/1247058180967813120?s=20