How Random  is Determinism?

Randomness

A random event is not caused by anything. 

But a random event does cause things.

It steps into the world of cause and effect.

Quantum Indeterminism

A random  quantum event is generally assumed to have a totally negligible or no effect on the macro world of cause and effect.

A random quantum event , once occurred, is then part of normal cause and effect. It cannot be harnessed as some sort of special event that delivers free will to humans.

At best random events make the world slightly unpredictable, but definitely not free to be manipulated by thought or will. A random event has no idea of any purpose or intention because it is random.

It appears that the random quantum world creates a strikingly predictable world of rigid cause and effect.

Random and Determined

Random events are still part of determinism. The current state of the universe causes the next state. All present events cause the next events.

An additional random event at any time instantly becomes part of the present state of the universe, so both random and non random events go on to determine the future.

There is no freedom or wiggle room for free will or choice at this level, or any other level. Fundamental particles determine everything - random events or not.

What Happens Next

What happens next is due to the present state of the universe plus the laws of physics. Random events can be included in the causal chain. Even when thinking about the same thing happening under the same circumstances. For example: everything according to physics happens in a determined way, and then random event “A” occurs, adding to the causal events going forward.

In a repetition of this path of events, event “A” would be included and the same outcome would occur.

Repetition is possible but prediction is not, due to the unpredictable nature of an instantaneous random event.

Determined Photons

Light travels for 13 billion years from a distant galaxy at the edge of the visible universe, to us. It can be focussed here on Earth by a telescope  to give an accurate image of the galaxy. Indicating the shape, distance, speed, mass and chemistry of that galaxy. Where is the randomness? Where is the uncertainty? Why didn’t the photons spiral randomly away or suddenly appear in another part of the universe? Why didn’t each particle change its behaviour, given 13 billion years to do so. This would cause it to be impossible for us to get the accurate and predictable information we do get.

If randomness or quantum indeterminacy affects fundamental particles in the micro world, how large is that effect?  In the LIGO experiment to record gravitational waves from colliding black holes, laser beams in tunnels recorded changes in length to the scale of a human hair’s width over the distance to the nearest star (4 light years).

This is not to say that randomness does not occur, but how big an effect does it have on the universe (micro or macro)? It appears our world is extremely and precisely deterministic and predictable. 

Any connection between human behaviour, free will and quantum uncertainty seems out of the question. It could be that quantum uncertainty can be ignored altogether in the macro world, as far as human functioning or the workings of the macro universe are concerned. 

Some quantum effects do flow up into the macro world however. Quantum computing for example. These projects are constructed by human ingenuity and do not occur naturally.

Determinism does not depend on there being no randomness or quantum uncertainty in order to be the cause of everything. Both random and non random events determine physical behaviour which determines our existence.

A Coin Toss

Flipping a coin is not uncertain or random or free to be different.

The weather is not random or free to change its mind.

There’s just too many particles and interactions involved for an accurate calculation (prediction).

The same goes for your next (or present) thought. It’s not random or free willed. It’s determined by the universe.

Determined or Quantum

If physical determinism is the case, then winding the clock back to the big bang and re-running events again would produce exactly the same results.

But if quantum indeterminacy is the case, and it affects the macro world (which it may not), then physical random events would have occurred that altered the unfolding of the universe. And these events could not have been predicted. Or repeated in a re-run.

The quantum world is uncertain so this seems to disallow the purely precise physical causes and effects to solely have shaped the universe.

Even if quantum uncertainty is true , which it is, and it does create or change reality randomly, such as even your decisions or your actions, even then, given exactly the same random events in order happening over again, together with the non random events, would produce the same results, and the same present moment as this.

Randomness is unpredictable in the future, but once random events occur and have created a past, that past can be repeated given the same random events again plus all the non random, caused events. 

If quantum uncertainty is the case, but the effects never go from the micro to the macro world, then physical determinism remains the case.

Consider all particles as probability waves and nothing being certain, this is all matter at the basic micro level where the action is quantized. By the time it gets to particle (quark) size the uncertainty is infinitesimally small and negligible, and above that, particles/molecules/neurons/bodies are as good as totally determined.

Either/Or

Either:

A tiny bit of randomness is acceptable and does not upset the logic or overwhelmingly obvious determinism in how the world works.

Or:

If everything large or small is a wave function of a certain probability, then the randomness due to the probability waves is so insignificantly small, that for all intents and purposes the world is deterministic.

Could Determinism be:

Could it be:

"Everything I do is caused by something else?"

Rather than:

"From the big bang onwards everything was already determined?"

The first definition could include random events, which still have nothing to do with me.

My life is determined, can mean:

My life is determined by causal events, due to particles obeying the laws of physics (nature), and also due to random quantum fluctuations which are unpredictable but still have an effect that determines my life.

Whether your life is determined by an event 13.8 billion years ago, or by an event a few nanoseconds ago is irrelevant. It is all determined by something else - not you.

You are a creation, not a creator. You are a result, not a cause.

When you do something that creates a result, it was determined by physical particles obeying physical laws.

When a random event occurs it is instantly real and joins the universe in the same way a non random event does. The universe then moves forward non randomly. Looking at a particular event - can you tell if the cause was random or non random? I would say not.

A random event is not caused by anything, but the event must enter into the world as a non-random cause of future events. It doesn't continue in any random way. It joins the chain of cause and effect that is the universe.

Optical Lattices (Clocks)

The latest atomic clock using thousands of atoms held in a certain state by a laser, measures time on a scale of better than 1/10th of a second over the age of the universe.

If randomness had any noticeable effect, you would expect that sort of accuracy to be completely fuzzed out by physical unpredictability.

Free Will and Self

Determinism in the physical world leads to no free will and only one outcome for the day to day universe. It includes total predictability with no personal responsibility. Thought, personality and subjective experience all being determined states.

What happens if random events are thrown into this causal , determined world?

A determined and a random event are both events. Unless you were measuring the paths of atoms or the billions of interactions that fire a neuron you wouldn't know if any of those interactions were uncaused. 

If uncaused random quantum events occur (which apparently they do), and they did affect and impact the macro world (which science thinks they don’t), even then, every event is due to a determined (caused), or a random (uncaused) event. Neither of these types of events can be influenced by you or your mind or will or thoughts or your actions. Both determined and undetermined events happen in present time by themselves. 

This leaves no room for free will or self autonomy or consequently - free thoughts or free actions. All is determined or random. Not under your control. Not free. You and everything else are still the result of things, not a cause of things. 

What happens in the universe appears to be a continuance of causes and effects going back to the big bang 13.8 billion years ago. The point about determinism is that it takes away any chance of free will of the self or society. The self becomes a result of physical particles interacting and not our responsibility or doing. If determinism is true then laws of physics govern existence, not our own morality. The universe is meaningless in human terms. If determinism is not totally true because of quantum uncertainty allowing random events, nothing changes in terms of those consequences.

Particles interacting are still the make up of everything including us. We still have no part or responsibility in what is happening and no free will and only the illusion of a conscious self.

Because everything appears to happen as it logically should, the universe unfolds in an overwhelmingly deterministic way. And because it is a series of events without any plan at all, any random events simply alter those events, without cause, which is fine by the universe. The only difference is that random events cannot be predicted and the exact same events would not be repeated if the universe was restarted again from scratch.

However if the universe was started again from scratch, and the exact same random events occurred, the exact same universe as this one would evolve.

The only two ways physics happens is either determined, or with quantum indeterminacy. There is no room for mind or human action causing anything. Mind or human action is the result of what is happening in the moment, which is the result of determined or random events going all the way back to the big bang.

Determined/Nondetermined

Determined means: caused by something.

Eg. caused by previous conditions.

Or caused by previously caused events, or even by random events.

Non-determined means not caused by anything. A random event.

A random event, although not caused, only has an existence as part of the cause and effect world. Before it happens it does not exist, and when it happens it is a particular event. After it happens it joins the cause and effect world as a normal particle with interactions.

Quantum Mechanics

Even though the Standard Interpretation (prevailing view) of quantum mechanics sees subatomic measurements as probabilistic and unpredictable, there are several other well respected interpretations that are purely deterministic and non random in nature.

There is also the possibility that scientific progress will discover a more logical explanation for subatomic particle behaviour in the future, (for us lay people). Not to mention that we could put the absolute truth on hold, in the hope that a more comfortable theory will be revealed.

Meanwhile science is progressing very nicely with uncertainty and randomness in the micro world, and at the same time fully deterministic behaviour in the macro world explains almost everything else.

The quantum realm occurs at distances of less than 100 nanometers (10to the -9m). That is: below the size of an atom. Not a human friendly environment.

As far as human behaviour, human biology, mind, self, thought, society, the Earth and the universe are all concerned, we can be confident in using rigid determinism as the tool for explanation and discovery. 

Randomness does exist, but it does not play a part in influencing who we are or how we got here. Determinism is for us and our world - very near to a certainty.

Two Types

There are two types of events that influence matter. Determined events and random events. The only influences that have any logic to them, and major effects, are determined events.

Random events cancel out or have comparatively no influence.

Determined, big time , macro events are what governs our lives and the cosmos.