A great physicist by the name of Richard Feynman said, "I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics." What do you think he meant by this? Does this mean quantum mechanics is wrong? How can we know?
He just meant that though we have developed theories of matter and a bunch of equations that reliably describe what we observe, the actual workings are still mysterious. The "why" is not understood. The way things work is so counter-intuitive that while we can do the math, no one knows why it really works.
When Richard Feynman said, "I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics," he was expressing the complexity and mysterious nature of quantum mechanics. Feynman recognized that quantum mechanics, the branch of physics that deals with phenomena at extremely small scales, is fundamentally different from our everyday experiences and can be challenging to comprehend fully.
Feynman's quote does not imply that quantum mechanics is wrong; rather, it reflects the depth of its complexity. Quantum mechanics has been incredibly successful in predicting and explaining numerous phenomena, and its predictions have been experimentally verified countless times.
The reason it is difficult to comprehend quantum mechanics completely is because it introduces concepts that are quite different from classical physics. Quantum mechanics challenges our intuition, as it involves features like wave-particle duality, superposition, and entanglement, which do not have classical counterparts.
Despite the challenges in understanding quantum mechanics fully, scientists have developed mathematical formulas and frameworks that accurately describe and predict quantum phenomena. The predictions of quantum mechanics have been extensively tested and verified through experiments, consistently confirming its validity.
So, while Feynman's statement recognizes the complexity of quantum mechanics and the difficulties in fully comprehending it, it does not undermine the validity of the theory. It is a reminder that the nature of quantum mechanics pushes the boundaries of our understanding and requires us to approach it with an open mind and a willingness to accept its counterintuitive concepts.