Uncertain

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Uncertain
/ʌnˈsɜːtn/ (adj.)

Of a potential future state, not susceptible to prediction using mathematical tools or probabilities. So, neither deterministic nor stochastic. Not even random.

This is the state of a complex system, and of most of the world. Interestingly — tellingly — mathematicians don’t even have a concept for uncertain. In the mathematical universe things are either deterministic or stochastic. If things are uncertain there is no mathematics to be done: it is useless. No wonder, really, that mathematicians don’t have a concept for it.

This leads those in applied disciplines that depend on logic and mathematics (such as computer programming) to forget that there is such a thing as uncertainty. Given that the world, generally, is complex and uncertain, this is quite the oversight.

See also

• JC’s twin essays on doubt and certainty
• Deterministic
• Stochastic
• Conway’s Game of Life
• Systems theory