Making sense of Quantum Mechanics (impossible)

In the world of popular science and handwavy formulations, quantum mechanics has remained one of the most captivating, yet elusive, topics of the past century. While I was pursuing my physics degree, quantum mechanics was the bane of my existence – I even failed it once, having to repeat the course. Richard Feynman once said “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, then you don’t understand quantum mechanics.” From this perspective my failure seemed rather impressive, suggesting that my poor understanding of quantum mechanics puts me in the same league of legendary physicsist Richard Feynman – not to brag. Another famous physicist, David Mermin (who is still with us), famously said “Just shut up and calculate!”. If you want to get an A in quantum mechanics, I recommend this strategy. But this goes against the grain when compared to other topics in physics. Normally in physics, intuition precedes math – we set up math problems based on an intuitive understanding of the forces, leading us to intuitive solutions. How could it be that, in QM, math precedes intuition? I left my introductory physics courses feeling like a god who could calculate the motion of anything; QM humbled me very quickly. I struggled in QM because (along with many other students) I was expecting the same visual intuition from classical physics to remain valid. For me, the secret to intuitively (not) understanding quantum mechanics was more deeply rooted in philosophy rather than logic.

Quantum Mechanics as a Philosophy

Oftentimes (especially in the world of math and science) complexity is mistaken for quality. I adopted this misguided notion in the traditional education system, where each new lesson seems to dive head first into new math and abstractions. Quantum mechanics is in a bizarre situation, where the mega mathematics is far more refined than our understanding of the theory. Physicists still (yes, in 2024) argue about key aspects of it’s foundation!