Current physicist here: yeah, most physicists are in the “shut up and calculate” camp, and view the interpretations as fun lunchroom conversation.
I also think that collapse is unsatisfying, and I think yud did an adequate job in relaying the reasons why a lot of physicists are unhappy with it. The problem is that “collapse is unsatisfying” is not sufficient evidence to declare that MWI is true and that MWI nonbelievers are fools. The obvious point being that there a shitload of other interpretations which neither feature many-worlds or “real” collapse. The other point is that MWI is an incomplete theory, as there are no explanation for the Born probabilities. Also, we know we don’t have the full picture of quantum physics anyway (as it’s incompatible with general relativity), so it’s possible that if we figure out a unified theory the problems with interpretations will go away.
Yeah, I think its “science enthusiast” popularity is mostly because it can be misunderstood to imply that a bunch of SciFi pop culture is more plausible than it is. Couple that with the nuances of various interpretations being lost on anyone who hasn’t actually done the maths and you have a recipe for Batman vs Superman type disagreements.
I threw electrons at colour centres on nanodiamonds to try make them more nano-er so while quantum shit was involved I never felt particularly compelled to have a high degree of certainty in the (is epistemology the right word?) behind the maths that obviously worked.
