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Glite Dictionary
⏳ Future input needed 🔗 No cause-effect
noncausality

noncausality

9.9
When a system uses future input, it cannot work in real time
  • noun
  • /nɒnˈkɔːzəlɪti/
  • Specialized
: no causalidad
  • The concept of noncausality in systems theory indicates that outputs can depend on future inputs rather than just past ones.

Examples

  • In quantum physics, noncausality suggests that the behavior of particles can be influenced by events that have not yet occurred.

  • Chris Clarke offered the idea of noncausality to us as a challenge to our tendency to think in terms of causal linear relationships, which is another thread that runs through the participatory worldview.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Understanding noncausality helps clarify how certain theories in science challenge our conventional ideas about cause and effect.

Surface Forms

noncausality singular
noncausalities plural

Morphology

noncausality = causality (transparent) = non + causality

The prefix 'non-' straightforwardly negates the noun 'causality', so the meaning is directly derived for learners who know 'causality'.

Etymology

Noncausality begins with non- meaning 'not' and uses cause, which means 'a reason' or 'what makes something happen'. In engineering, noncausality describes a system whose output depends on future inputs, so it is 'not causal' and cannot work in real time.