@validity,
validity wrote:I think there needs to be distinction between that which has no cause and that which has a cause but whose outcome is not able to be determined.
Its your thread, so your definition trumps mine
I believe that either God or the area which encompasses all of reality is random. If God exists, then God is random and the area which encompasses all of reality is not. If God doesnt exist, then the area which encompasses all of reality is random. I dont know if there is anything else that is truely random. But since at least one of those two are random, then randomness must exist.
There are many things that have a cause, but it appears that they dont. This is because their actions, or what they do, are so complex that we just dont understand the process.
For example, throwing a die into the air and having it land on 3. Many people would call this random, but its not. The very insant that the die leaves the persons hand, it can only land on a certain number (i dont know if i said that right). Factors in this throw include the position of the die when it left the end, how high it was thrown up, gravity, etc.
By the way, it is not my definition of randomness. It is the definition of randomness.