Title: What is the difference between probabilistic and deterministic models? - Quora
Headings: What is the difference between probabilistic and deterministic models?
What is the difference between probabilistic and deterministic models?
Content: Causal Determinism, as well as Newtonian Physics, posits that all activity in the universe is both (i) the effect of [all] prior activity, and (ii) the only activity that can occur given the prior activity. That is what is meant by saying that everything is “determined” — it is the inexorable consequence of activity that preceded it. In a deterministic universe, everything that has ever occurred, is occurring, and will occur since the universe came into existence (however that might have occurred) can only occur exactly as it has occurred, is occurring, or will occur, and cannot possibly occur in any different manner. Indeterminists argue that all activity in the universe is not fixed, and that people have the freedom to chart their own futures. Quantum Physicists stop short of agreeing with Indeterminists about the freedom of mankind to act outside the constraints of genetics, environment and history, but some (but not all) Quantum Physicists do contend that the universe is probabilistic at the quantum level, and they cite as an example of that assertion the observation that the precise moment that a radioactive particle will disintegrate cannot be predicted with scientific certainty. Such physicists claim that the decay of radioactive particles is an example of a “random” event that is not predetermined. I do not profess to know if the universe is deterministic or probabilistic, but I do tend to disagree that quantum physics disproves Causal Determinism. ( Bruce Silverstein's answer to Does quantum mechanics undermine hard determinism? and/or Bruce Silverstein's answer to Is it likely that we live in a completely deterministic universe, governed by laws of physics that we simply might not fully grasp? ). As I see it, the difference between a deterministic and probabilistic system is not based on the predictability of an outcome, but on the actual physical process by which activity occurs — whether or not it is detectable or predictable.