I think what I get hung up on with explanations like this is, what changes once the wave function has collapsed? Are there observable characteristics before wave function collapse that become different after the wave function collapses?
Maybe this question just reduces to “how can we tell the difference between two entangled particles having always been in some state (but we didn’t know it) vs. being simultaneously in both states until we make a measurement?”
Based on other comments in this post, it seems like the answer may be: Bell’s theorem proves that classical explanations have an upper bound on correlations between the particles, but quantum mechanics predicts a correlation the violates the classical upper bound. And we can experimentally test the correlations in practice.
Maybe this question just reduces to “how can we tell the difference between two entangled particles having always been in some state (but we didn’t know it) vs. being simultaneously in both states until we make a measurement?”
Based on other comments in this post, it seems like the answer may be: Bell’s theorem proves that classical explanations have an upper bound on correlations between the particles, but quantum mechanics predicts a correlation the violates the classical upper bound. And we can experimentally test the correlations in practice.
This is all very hard to wrap my head around.