I've always hit two big stumbling blocks in conceiving of the proof or disproof of hidden variable theories as being even valid idea, let alone an answerable question... I feel I must be misunderstanding some very fundamental things.
Quantum mechanics is deterministic, ignoring the bit where we take our complex number and fudge it into a probability.
We use computers to make calculations to provide the predictions of quantum mechanics - how is this not itself a hidden variable theory?
From what I understand the famous Bell theorem and work around it doesn't disprove hidden variable theories, just one specific flavour of them, and even then I am not convinced. I feel like I must be missing something again, because this result seems to me in no way profound... although it certainly fits into the picture of the EPR 'paradox' and is a good demonstration of the validity of QM.
I guess the crux of my problem is that this 'area' really addresses wave function collapse and the problems it causes, but I don't see the need for some collapse mechanism to begin with... again I feel like I am missing something really fundamental.
Apologies if this is a bad question. I have had a look around and there are similar questions, but I don't feel that either of my points are addressed...