Unfortunately this was written by a science reporter, and so, it was written with an angle by someone who doesn't know what he is talking about. Their dismissiv

Unfortunately this was written by a science reporter, and so, it was written with an angle by someone who doesn't know what he is talking about. Their dismissiveness is well justified. I was a big fan of exploring the alternative ideas in quantum mechanics, and I tried to like Bohmian pilot waves. They are very philosophically appealing. Then I saw some results in quantum optics which pretty much convinced me it was a silly idea. Walther's ideas on Surrealistic Bohm trajectories should have been enough. I'd be curious if these oil droplets exhibit the surrealistic trajectory behavior. It would be neat if they did, but I doubt it. While the fluid mechanical experiments are pretty damn neat, the modern revival of Bohmian mechanics is a symptom of the disease that afflicts today's physics community: there are many people who call themselves physicists who insist on working on things which have no physical consequences. If you can't do an experiment, you're a philosopher, armed with math. People who claim they might be able to make an experiment in 20-40 years (after they have tenure and have retired) are arguably worse: yes, I am looking at you, entire field of quantum information snake oil salesman: build something or shut up. All this is a sign of decadence and decay, and it is extremely sad to see so many clever people being so stupid. FWIIW, I was exposed to Bohm mechanics in my junior year QM course; it's not like nobody has heard of it. It is actually quite ubiquitous in certain kinds of gutter popular literature; the kinds of popular QM books people who believe in psychic powers read. I've met strippers in gothic nightclubs who knew who David Bohm is. As in, more than one.