QM could be interpreted in a deterministic way, but this is not a common view. I would like to learn more about it from you and others here on LW.
"Spontaneous" means that something happens without precursor; without any apparent cause. It is orthogonal in meaning to "determined".
When you write that spontaneous symmetry breaking is deterministic, perhaps you mean that its description is analytic -- wholly described by a set of deterministic mathematical equations?
Spontaneous symmetry breaking is part of stat mech. It has practically nothing to do with QM. Stat mech can be interpreted probabilistically, but it is not at all controversial to apply it to deterministic systems.
"Spontaneous" means that something happens without precursor; without any apparent cause. It is orthogonal in meaning to "determined".
Maybe that's a reasonable definition, but you contrasted "spontaneous" with "closed," which is not orthogonal to "determined."
I declare this Open Thread open for discussion of Less Wrong topics that have not appeared in recent posts.