I’m aware of the different views/theories on this, but have not formed a fixed view of my own. Why not? Because 1) it has no bearing on what needs to be done to realise Nibbana and 2) it is not something that I can verify so it is only speculation/papancha, and this can so easily become a hindrance to practice… and as such needs to be guarded against and restrained.
Part of Right View, is understanding what is wholesome and skillful, and then to direct attention to those things that lead to beneficial and wholesome outcomes, and to Not pay attention to those things (desires generated by the defilements including the ‘monkey mind’) that will lead to the unbeneficial and unwholesome.
Curiosity is often a vakued human trait, but it has it’s pitfalls if it is left unrestrained… It needs to be tempered by wisdom, to know what it is worth being curious about, and which lines of investigation are likely to lead to good states and which are likely to lead to bad states. Just like in the simile of the person being shot by an arrow - it is more beneficial to direct focus upon how to extract the arrow and heal the wound, than to understand how the arrow is made or the colour of the shirt of the person who shot it etc etc… If all the focus and energy are on the wrong thing, the outcome will not be beneficial.
So, as both @Gabi73 and @NgXinZhao have said, knowing the precise mechanisms of rebirth (and all the states and realms in samsara) is not necessary to progress towards Awakening, and therefore I don’t waste time upon it. Rather, in cases such as these, one can ‘flip the mirror around’ and instead of following attention to the external, re-direct it to observe what the mind is doing… see the craving - for fixed and definitive answers and intellectual stimulation, recognise the discomfort of ‘not knowing’ and relativity/uncertainty etc and to work on these things as a means to reduce the defilements. IMO this is an important part of practice - knowing where to focus - Yoniso Manasikara, and then being able to turn this focus where one chooses, with accuracy (based on Right View) rather than being a slave and simply reacting to contact.
As so often, other things come up that are relevant. Just now a sutta was posted on another thread that serves as a good example here.
I include the preceding couple of lines to make it clear how it is not the views about realms that are important, but the transcending of delusion, (as in the lines quoted by the Synergist)
“This world, the other world, the Brahma world with its Gods:
one does not know what view of this the reputable Gotama has.
“So, to the One With Excellent Sight, I have come in need with a question:
Looking on the world in what way does the king of Death not see one?”