Deterministic System (philosophy) - Non-deterministic Systems

Non-deterministic Systems

Events without natural causes cannot be part of a deterministic system. Whether such events actually occur is a matter of philosophical and scientific debate - however, possible uncaused events include:

• Random Quantum events

Quantum physics holds that certain events such as radioactive decay and movement of particles are completely random when taken at the level of single atoms or smaller. Schrödinger's cat is a famous thought experiment in which a cat's survival cannot be determined theoretically before the experiment is done. For almost all everyday non-microscopic occurrences, however, the probability of such random events is extremely close to zero, and can be approximated to almost certainty with statistics using the correspondence principle. The philosophical consequences of quantum physics were once considered by many (including Albert Einstein) to be a major problem for the scientific method which traditionally used a strong version of scientific determinism (see Philosophy of science).