The growing consensus among physicists is that true randomness does not exist. Here’s what that means about the nature of reality and life as we know it. For generations, science has treated randomness as a fundamental pillar of reality. In the subatomic world of quantum mechanics, events like the decay of a single radioactive atom appear completely unpredictable, leading many to believe that the universe is governed by true chaos. This microscopic randomness was thought to scale up into our everyday lives, creating the unpredictable nature of what we commonly call good or bad luck. However, a growing faction of physicists is challenging this view, arguing that the math we use to describe these subatomic events has misled us. Underneath the apparent chaos, the rules governing quantum behavior are strictly probabilistic, which actually makes them fundamentally deterministic. The shift in thinking is fueled by a deeper critique of quantum mechanics itself. Critics argue that physicists have long operated under the unproven assumption that "all possibilities are possible" at the subatomic level. While this assumption helps make the complex equations of quantum mechanics work, some experts point out there is no actual physical basis for it. By removing this assumption, the illusion of randomness collapses, revealing that even the most seemingly unpredictable events are dictated by hidden, underlying order. Ultimately, if randomness is just a cognitive limitation of the human mind rather than a physical reality, then even our personal fortunes are not the product of random chance—challenging our basic understanding of fate, free will, and the nature of the cosmos itself. source: Gunn, A. (2026). Some experts now think randomness doesn't exist. Here's what convinced them. BBC Science Focus.