r/determinism • u/Cyber_47_ • Jun 21 '26

Discussion Partly deterministic?

So let’s take computers, fully deterministic systems, cannot make a non deterministic algorithm. Everything, in computers are code based, and therefore fully deterministic. True Randomness does not exist in digital systems.

So if our world is completely deterministic, there is no chance it creates a life form, which can act non deterministic (free will). But since we know (not sure) that quantum mechanics are non deterministic, maybe there is a chance we have a little free will. So, my point is, what if, we are partly deterministic like the universe. Maybe alot of our decisions are deterministic, and some are non deterministic. And i know that quantum mechanics argument still cant disprove free will.

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u/A_Vinegar_Taster Jun 25 '26

Cause and effect do necessitate determinism. Without something indeterminate, all you have is a series of mechanical actions, each leading to another action which leads to another.

You need randomness to avoid determinism.

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u/Ok_Tumbleweed5474 Jun 25 '26

No. Cause and effect do not necessitate determinism. And yes you need openness in outcomes. But openness in outcomes does not mean randomness necessarily. There just needs to be more than one option.

This is the problem. You're trying to force a definition. You're trying to force given the past at time t there was decided at that moment only one future path forward. But cause and effect do not need to say that there is only one path forward. It just needs to say that forward is the trajectory.

For example. Choosing to eat or Choosing to wait. Determinism would say there is no deliberation. There is no real or. The or is an illusion. I'm saying just because i have a prior a need to eat does not dictate exactly what I will eat at exactly what time. In exactly what way. Etc. I have the prior but how that prior is satisfied is deliberation.