I have encountered this sentence in some form or another in several sciences journals-articles or sometimes in the social media bio of random strangers. I get a gut idea of what it is, but I’d like this explained in detailed words, so that I might also be able to explain this to someone, if prompted.
In: 2
A Thing happens. What happens next?
If you can figure out exactly what happens next, then it’s *deterministic*. A game of Candyland is deterministic: draw card, go where it says. That’s it. The end.
If you can make multiple predictions about what happens, but you have no way to know for sure, then it’s *stochastic*. A game of Monopoly is stochastic: if someone lands on an unowned property then they *might* buy it…depending on what it is, and how much money they have, and whether or not anyone else at the table can talk them into it or out of it, etc.
This is saying: “If A Thing happens, and what happens next can be exactly determined but it’s *really really hard* to do so, then it *seems* like it’s unpredictable”.
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