indeterminacy
State of being unsettled
Indeterminacy is the state of being undetermined or not precisely fixed.
In physics, the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle (often called uncertainty principle) states that certain pairs of properties cannot both be measured exactly.
In music and art, indeterminacy refers to works where elements are left to chance or performer choice: Cage embraced indeterminacy in his compositions.
More broadly, it describes any situation where outcomes remain genuinely open rather than merely unknown.
Absence of precision
- indefinitenessLack of clear boundaries
- uncertaintyState of being unsure
- imprecisionLack of exactness
- nebulousnessQuality of being indistinct
obscurity · fuzziness · murkiness · equivocation · polysemy · open-endedness · inexactness · looseness
Coexisting in multiple states
- wavefunctionQuantum state's mathematical representation
- HeisenbergGerman quantum theorist
- uncertainty principleConjugate variables resist simultaneous precision
- entanglementState of being intertwined
quantum mechanics · Schrödinger · decoherence · coherence · quantum state · collapse · measurement problem · observer effect
Delay in system response
- unrealizedNot made actual
- dormantInactive but capable
- inchoatePartially formed, undeveloped
- nascentBeginning to develop
embryonic · unformed · undeveloped · unshaped · unactualized · unresolved · pending · uncommitted
Autonomous choice capacity
- causationProduction of effects
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
- contingencyUncertain possible event
- referenceDirecting attention elsewhere
meaning · interpretation · ontological · semantic · inscrutability · undecidable · openness · incompleteness
vagueness
Absence of precision
- indefinitenessLack of clear boundaries
- uncertaintyState of being unsure
- imprecisionLack of exactness
nebulousness · obscurity · fuzziness · murkiness · equivocation · polysemy · open-endedness · inexactness · looseness · haziness
superposition
Coexisting in multiple states
- wavefunctionQuantum state's mathematical representation
- HeisenbergGerman quantum theorist
- uncertainty principleConjugate variables resist simultaneous precision
entanglement · quantum mechanics · Schrödinger · decoherence · coherence · quantum state · collapse · measurement problem · observer effect · probabilistic
latency
Delay in system response
- unrealizedNot made actual
- dormantInactive but capable
- inchoatePartially formed, undeveloped
nascent · embryonic · unformed · undeveloped · unshaped · unactualized · unresolved · pending · uncommitted · undecided
free will
Autonomous choice capacity
- causationProduction of effects
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
- contingencyUncertain possible event
reference · meaning · interpretation · ontological · semantic · inscrutability · undecidable · openness · incompleteness
- uncertaintyuncertainty, uncertain, unknown, unsure, unclear
- imprecisionimprecision, inexactness, inaccuracy, vagueness, fuzziness
- ambiguityambiguity, ambivalence, double meaning, vagueness, equivocation
- unclearnessvagueness, ambiguity, obscurity, haziness, fuzziness
- Quantum Mechanicssuperposition, entanglement, wave function, uncertainty principle, Schrodinger equation
- Chance MusicJohn Cage
indeterminacydeterminacy
State of being settled
certainty · definiteness · fixedness · decidedness · resolution
indeterminacyprecision
Accuracy of measurement
exactness · specificity · definiteness · exactitude · clarity
indeterminacydeterminism
Doctrine of causal necessity
predictability · causality · predetermination · inevitability · fate