> Hidden variables have more meaning to me in sociological and psychological systems.
Then you are talking about something completely different than the matter at hand. The term "hidden variable theory" has a specific technical meaning in quantum mechanics:
> there exists a way to reason about systems that contain hidden variables, we just do not know it yet
The whole point here is that we can definitively eliminate that possibility. If it were possible to reconstruct the values of hidden variables in quantum mechanics then it would be possible to simulate collapse-free measurement, and the entire theory would be wrong.
Then you are talking about something completely different than the matter at hand. The term "hidden variable theory" has a specific technical meaning in quantum mechanics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_variable_theory
> there exists a way to reason about systems that contain hidden variables, we just do not know it yet
The whole point here is that we can definitively eliminate that possibility. If it were possible to reconstruct the values of hidden variables in quantum mechanics then it would be possible to simulate collapse-free measurement, and the entire theory would be wrong.