Deterministic
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The JC’s amateur guide to systems theory™
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Deterministic
/ˌdɪtəːmɪˈnɪstɪk/ (n.)
1. (Probability): Of an as-yet unhappened event, having a probability of one. Fully predictable. Given specified criteria, certain. If this, then that. Processable without syntax error by a Turing Machine.
Compare with stochastic (having a probability less than one) and uncertain (impossible to predict).
2. (Valuation) A value which can be assessed without any hand-waving appeals to the referee, common-sense, crying out loud, or five leading dealers in the market for the relevant financial instrument. An a solution that any old chump, given instructions in sensible English, could arrive at without the need for another fellow’s opinion. Now you might think the negotiation of standard form trading agreements is the sort of thing that one might, by now, have reduced to a set of simple deterministic rules that even a pocket calculator could follow, but you would be wrong. Just try following the definition of Valuation Date in a CSA if you don’t believe me.
3. (Philosophy) The epistemological conclusion, deriving from the determinist standpoint, that, since the universe is wholly and exclusively a material thing, and is governed by immutable laws of physics and causation, anything that will happen to any part of that universe can, with sufficient information, be calculated in advance, and the fact that something hasn’t been so pre-calculated, or predicted, and that the trajectory of every atom in the universe has not, yet, been charted from its origin to its final logical end point in the singularity with which our universe will begin and end is merely a reflection of the inadequacy of our computational apparatus, and our approach to data-gathering. Stands in stark contrast to pragmatic and relativist epistemologies. JC is with the pragmatists.