"It seems to me that the most aesthetically pleasing (Occam) alternative is that randomness is a fundamental ingredient of Nature. Keep locality; no conspiracy; QM is correct; no weird conspiracy-like trick of QM to make sure that whatever it does cannot be distinguished from LHV..."
The problem with that is that it contradicts general relativity, such that either the conventional quantum theory, or relativity, is foundational ('a fundamental ingredient of nature'). The truly aesthetically pleasing alternative is unitarity; Copenhagen cannot get there without imagining a collapse of the wave function, and furthermore, quantum field theory with special relativity cannot resolve (i.e., make a closed logical judgement on) a metric on the measure space without introducing infinities. That is why the quantum theory claim that microscale phenomena "smooth out" at some indeterminate point, into classical phenomena, cannot be demonstrated even in principle.
The physics of general relativity (curved spacetime) does resolve a metric measure in the prescribed limit (Lorentz metric), by a sign reversal in the arbitrarily chosen coordinate system. (This is a flaw of general relativity that Einstein was well aware of; he intended only that GR be a waystation on the way to a complete theory of gravity.)
Because general relativity as Einstein formulated it applies only 'up to diffeomorphism', manifest reversibility is also manifestly local -- at the microscale topology, global length 1 is identical to local length 1, by the proof of Perelman that the 3 sphere manifold is simply connected. The topological twist of parallelized S^3 -- the most dramatic feature of Joy's framework -- assures an active diffeomorphism, i.e., one in which the actual structure of spacetime determines the measure criteria and result.
Because general relativity as Einstein formulated it applies only 'up to diffeomorphism', manifest reversibility is also manifestly local -- at the microscale topology, global length 1 is identical to local length 1, by the proof of Perelman that the 3 sphere manifold is simply connected. The topological twist of parallelized S^3 -- the most dramatic feature of Joy's framework -- assures an active diffeomorphism, i.e., one in which the actual structure of spacetime determines the measure criteria and result.
"The only clean elegant solution is Copenhagen."
Any mathematician who would say that the mathematical theory of quantum mechanics is anything other than a dog's breakfast, compared to the equations of general relativity, needs to change the water in his bong.
"There is nothing behind the scenes, quantum randomness is the bottom line. And ... that bottom line is the arrow of time! Time is quantum decoherence!"
Yes it is! Give the man a cigar.
Which, uh, makes my point, not yours. Long ago I defined time in the strictly technical physical sense: n-dimension infinitely orientable metric on random, self-avoiding walk. That works perfectly for Joy's framework, i.e., a coordinate free geometry, and does not fit your framework of linear superposition at all. Quantum configuration space will always be smaller than physical space; therefore, quantum theory cannot be done without the assumption of nonlocality.
"If only the physicists could get the right categories into their little brains and they would quickly be able to marry relativity and quantum mechanics."
Unfortunately, the categories are embedded in Joy's little brain, not yours.
-- snip speculation --
"Evolution whose sole 'purpose' is a pyramid game: more, more, more."
Evolution is demonstrably non-hierarchical.
