> There’s nothing that happens when you adjust the contrast or white balance in editing software that the camera hasn’t done under the hood. The edited image isn’t “faker” then the original: they are different renditions of the same data.
Almost, but not quite? The camera works with more data than what's present in the JPG your image editing software sees.
Not quite. At the very least, the RAW file is a static file. Whereas your camera chip can make interactive decisions.
In any case, RAW files aren't even all that raw. First, they are digitised. They often apply de-noising, digital conditioning (to take care of hot and dead pixels), lens correction. Some cameras even apply some lossy compression.
Almost, but not quite? The camera works with more data than what's present in the JPG your image editing software sees.