Part 8/12:
Ontic: The wave function is a real, physical entity—a tangible component of reality. Advocates such as the Everettian many-worlds interpretation fall into this camp.
Epistemic: The wave function represents knowledge or information about a system, not the system itself. This view aligns with Bayesian or statistical perspectives.
The PBR theorem (Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem) poses constraints on epistemic interpretations, suggesting that the wave function cannot simply be an expression of knowledge, implying it must have some element of reality. Yet, the speaker suggests that loopholes and ongoing debates make the true nature of the wave function still unsettled.