[dandelany]

It’s not obvious at all at the quantum scale. Nothing we’ve seen indicates that eg. the timing of the decay of a single particle, or the ability of a single electron to escape an energy well is deterministic, though they are easily predictable in aggregate.

What does “deterministic but not predetermined” mean?

[eurasiantiger]

It means that like in Game of Life, the rules are set, but the outcome at any timestep is not determined until the simulation reaches that timestep.