OK, so your approach is something like "QM has wave function as a basic description, therefore wave function is real if QM is true"? And if QED requires virtual particles to calculate anything useful, then virtual particles "exist", and are not a mathematical artifact of the perturbation theory?
Yeah, I believe virtual particles exist. I also believe in the existence of things like phonons, the electromagnetic field, organisms, beliefs and prices. These are all ontological posits of the best theories of the particular domain. I don't think that there is a meaningful sense in which some of these things are more real than others. Unlike you, I don't think unicorns or ghosts exist to any degree, because they are not part of our best theory of the relevant domain. I'm not even sure how to think about degrees of existence.
To me "accepting QM as true" is a meaningless statement, while "QM is accurate (at explaining and predicting) and fertile (making lots and lots of interesting, useful and accurate predictions)" is a meaningful one.
From a pragmatist point of view, there isn't much distance between those two statements. Pragmatists (myself included) reject the correspondence theory of truth.
Interesting, thank you. I guess our views are not that far apart. And I also
don't think that there is a meaningful sense in which some of these things are more real than others.
though if someone comes up with an interesting, accurate and fruitful meta-model of partial existence, I'd be happy to change my mind.
I don't think unicorns or ghosts exist to any degree, because they are not part of our best theory of the relevant domain.
Could it be because you are trying to apply them to a wrong domain? Would you agree that in a certain setting (a fantasy ...
What is something you used to believe, preferably something concrete with direct or implied predictions, that you now know was dead wrong. Was your belief rational given what you knew and could know back then, or was it irrational, and why?
Edit: I feel like some of these are getting a bit glib and political. Please try to explain what false assumptions or biases were underlying your beliefs - be introspective - this is LW after all.