I've only recently started studying statistical mechanics and I'm quite confused with the MaxEnt and anti-MaxEnt ideas. I'm looking for a concise answer, if it is possible, not really a description or debate of the critiques and arguments of MaxEnt, I just want to have a clear idea of where it stands nowadays.

Also, the debate got me thinking about the current status of Statistical physics. I'd like to know to what extent statistical mechanics is experimentally validated. It seems to me that most of e work done on statistical mechanics is through simulations, I tend to favor experimental validation over theoretical derivations or simulations, so hard evidence that, for example, entropy values calculated with statistical mechanical methods are consistent to a high degree of accuracy with experimental entropy values would be appreciated.

I hope that the question is concise and clear enough, I'm aware that this kind of questions can sometimes fuel subjective debate.