How can randomness exist?

Question

Apparently radioactive decay cannot is entirely random (I'm just picking something that's currently accepted as random). However, since it's caused by something, if you had the means to do so, surely you could be able to successfully predict when radioactive decay in an atom will occur, since it has a cause?

I like to think of it like this: if the universe were to somehow be recreated with PRECISELY the same properties, down to the smallest level possible, that this universe had at its beginning, then wouldn't every play out the same- any I mean everything?

possible duplicate of Is the universe fundamentally deterministic? — ACuriousMind, Oct 21 '14 at 20:58
I think they are, and there are others that would fit the bill, e.g. this one. Cause and effect are not physical terms, and your question about the nuclear decay is essentially the question whether we can deterministically predict the result of a measurement. — ACuriousMind, Oct 21 '14 at 21:17
So what happens when what causes the decay is, well, random? Your desire for a purely deterministic universe is not borne out by experiments. Perhaps a better question is http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/24390/ — Jon Custer, Oct 21 '14 at 21:19
Right here "However, since it's caused by something," you have presumed your conclusion. The evidence on the ground can't absolutely rule this out, but it comes very close and a deterministic universe is out of favor right now. — dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten, Oct 21 '14 at 21:50
That's why we don't call this phenomenon in quantum mechanics "randomness" but "uncertainty". — CuriousOne, Oct 21 '14 at 22:40
"if the universe were to somehow be recreated with PRECISELY the same properties, down to the smallest level possible," It's not safe to assume this is possible in principle. Even in the deterministic Bohmian Mechanics, there is an inescapable uncertainty of the actual configuration of beables. — Alfred Centauri, Oct 22 '14 at 00:05
try not to confuse ramndomness with meaninglessness. In many cases ppeople say random and imply "this is meaningless", since no cause caused it (thus has no meaning). The answer is that randomness is just a way to say that new information was generated and this has nothing to do with meaninglessness — Nikos M., Oct 22 '14 at 10:33

How can randomness exist?

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