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Adeterministic system[1] is a conceptual model of thephilosophicaldoctrine ofdeterminism applied to asystem for understanding everything that has and will occur in the system, based on the physical outcomes ofcausality. In a deterministic system, every action, or cause, produces a reaction, or effect, and every reaction, in turn, becomes the cause of subsequent reactions. The totality of these cascading events can theoretically show exactly how the system will exist at any moment in time.
To understand this concept, start with a fairly small system. Visualize a set of threedominoes lined up in a row with each domino less than a domino's length away from its neighbors. Once the first domino has toppled, the third domino will topple because the second will topple upon being contacted by the first domino.
Small deterministic systems are easy to visualize, but are necessarily linked to the rest of reality by an initial cause and/or final effect. To go back to the dominoes, something outside the system has to cause the first domino to topple. The last domino falling might cause something else outside the system to happen. And the system itself must be considered in isolation: if external forces such as hurricanes, earthquakes, or the hands of nearby people were taken into consideration, the final domino toppling might not be a predetermined outcome. Complete isolation of a system is unrealistic, but useful for understanding what would normally happen to a system when the possibility of external influences is negligible. Complex physical systems are necessarily built using simpler ones, and using isolated systems as a starting model can help bridge the gap, and aid in understanding. The domino example is developed in thePetri net computational model.
This example assumes that dominoes toppling into each other behave deterministically. Even the above-mentioned external forces which might interrupt the system are causes which the system did not consider, but which could be explained by cause and effect in a larger deterministic system.
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:
Some systems are particularly difficult to classify as deterministic or not, and have generated much philosophical debate. The major example would be human minds, and possibly animal minds too. Can people havefree will if their minds are truly deterministic? Conversely, when deterministic computers are said to exhibitartificial intelligence, how are their minds similar to ours?
The larger the deterministic system, the longer the necessary chain of cause and effect. The entireuniverse may be considered as such a system, which creates its own philosophical questions (seeDeterminism).
