The Scientific Context of the Word Chaos In a scientific context, the word chaos has a slightly different meaning than it does in its general usage as a state of confusion, lacking any order. Chaos, with reference to chaos theory, refers to an apparent lack of order in a system that nevertheless obeys particular laws or rules; this understanding of chaos is synonymous with dynamical instability, a condition discovered by the physicist Henri Poincare in the early 20th century that refers to an inherent lack of predictability in some physical systems. The two main components of chaos theory are the ideas that systems - no matter how complex they may be - rely upon an underlying order, and that very simple or small systems and events can cause very complex behaviors or events. This latter idea is known as sensitive dependence on initial conditions, a circumstance discovered by Edward Lorenz (who is generally credited as the first experimenter in the area of chaos) in the early 1960s. Lorenz, a meteorologist, was running computerized equations to theoretically model and predict weather conditions. Having run a particular sequence, he decided to replicate it. Lorenz reentered the number from his printout, taken half-way through the sequence, and left it to run. What he found upon his return was, contrary to his expectations, these results were radically different from his first outcomes. Lorenz had, in fact, entered not precisely the same number, .506127, but the rounded figure of .506. According to all scientific expectations... ... middle of paper ... ...hat those conditions are can never be sufficiently articulated to allow long-range predictions. Although chaos is often thought to refer to randomness and lack of order, it is more accurate to think of it as an apparent randomness that results from complex systems and interactions among systems. According to James Gleick, author of Chaos : Making a New Science, chaos theory is "a revolution not of technology, like the laser revolution or the computer revolution, but a revolution of ideas. This revolution began with a set of ideas having to do with disorder in nature: from turbulence in fluids, to the erratic flows of epidemics, to the arrhythmic writhing of a human heart in the moments before death. It has continued with an even broader set of ideas that might be better classified under the rubric of complexity."
“Chaos theory proves that unpredictability is built into our daily lives.”(Crichton 313). Ian Malcolm’s words resolve the book, Jurassic Park, in a very absolute way. Throughout the book, Malcolm, spoke about chaos theory and his self proclaimed “Malcolm Effect” to explain his reasoning in his predictions. Ian Malcolm had predicted the demise of Jurassic Park even before its opening, as well as its multiple problems and difficulties. Malcolm’s theory is evidenced countless times throughout the story of Jurassic Park; dinosaurs are breeding, dinosaurs are escaping, and systems fail.
Indirectly through out his novel, Camus compares people who rely too much on their logic and rationality, versus those who accept that our world is confusing and unpredictable. Similar to his thinking, in “Crickets, Bats, Cats and Chaos” Lewis Thomas suggests that chaos stimulates the brain and actually suggests that even crickets or cats have thoughts during chaotic or unpredictable situations. Even though I have always seen chaos as a total lack of order, a desperate situation in which an individual loses control, Thomas gave me a new concept for chaos. He says that it emerges when a system is altered by a small change or small uncertainty in its interior; chaos is then the
According to Edward Lorenz (founder of the Chaos Theory) chaos is the science of surprises, of the nonlinear and the unpredictable. It teaches us to expect the unexpected. Chaos Theory deals with nonlinear things that are effectively impossible to predict or control, like turbulence, weather, the stock market, our brain states, and so on. (Lorenz 1995: 187)
... in order to affect the world. Chaos becomes, by the end of the novel, nearly
Order and chaos are two events that inhabit the world that surrounds us. Natural events, such as gravity, create order where our world has laws and principles. One the other hand, war, fighting, and disasters make up the chaotic aspect of our world. How both are found in this world we live in, the same two ideas of order and chaos, are found in Eamon Grennan’s “One Morning.”
This fictional story, Lusus Laturae, is written by Margaret Atwood. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the origin of the Lusus Naturae is from Latin and the meaning is “freak of nature.” That is direct enough to assume the story is about a monster figure that will be a symbol of the story. According to the book “Freak of Nature,” the history of freak of nature to scientists and philosophers is an unfortunate, grotesque creature because it is odd or abnormal such as a conjoined twin which has two heads and shared a body (Blumberg 5). The criterion of being odd or abnormal starts from the visual difference seen by people. In the story, through the narration and point of view, character, symbol and figurative language, plot, and setting, it is revealed that the society and even the family ostracizes the protagonist who is defined as a monster due to her different appearance from others.
Throughout the modern era scientists and mathematicians have believed the world and it’s various systems follow a linear order. Much like a clock ticking second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. The belief was predictable in nature, following a simple order. However, there are many unexplainable events that occur every second across the world that do not fit this model. The opposite theory by natural law is chaos. Ancient Greek philosophers believed Chaos was evil, it dwelled in the underworld among the dead, it was opposite of Gaia, the goddess of the earth that was seen as good and orderly. In 1961 scientist began to study the idea that they may have missed something big and that was ideas of chaos and how it related to weather, science and especially ecology.
the rather simple view of chaos evident in Laplace’s dream of a universal formula: Chaos was merely complexity so great that in practice scientists couldn’t track it,
Randomization, in the form of mutations, provides genetic variation. Evolution itself is not entirely a random process, but the mutations that have appeared throughout history are. Because of this, one would argue that with the summation of many mutations over time, evolution would inevitably create more randomization within the system resulting in an increase in disorder. In an isolated system, the overall entropy would undoubtedly increase following a series of mutations. Because of natural selection (the idea that an organism that is better suited to its environment will survive and produce more offspring than those organisms who are not), it can be said that chance mutations are not the only driving force behind evolution, thus evolution is not entirely a spontaneous process (Williams,
John Lovelock in his book The Ages of Gaia presents an argument for a theory governing the relationship between the earth's biota and its physical environment. Lovelock holistic view of nature combines biology and geoclimatology as one science, which he calls geophysiology, "the study of living and non-living Earth as a single system (Lovelock 11)." Lovelock's theory states that life is necessary to maintain the planet's thermodynamic and chemical composition in its current state of homeostasis (the tendency of a system to maintain stability even with external disruptions) until some external force interrupts it, at which point it will move to a new stable state. He terms this theory "Gaia", after the Greek goddess of Earth. The Gaia theory delivers two primary implications: living organisms regulate their planet, and the evolution of species and their physical surroundings are a single inseparable process. The hypothesis points to stable conditions, such as oxygen levels, carbon dioxide concentrations and climate, as evidence that living organisms maintain a life-sustaining environment.
...s made a mistake and "this sudden illumination (or epiphany) assures us that order and purpose do exist in the universe, even if we cannot fathom the exact nature of that order and purpose"(Markos 39).
Stewart, Ian. Does God play dice?: the mathematics of chaos. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1989.
The second law of thermodynamics is expressed as a cycle that “all processes occur spontaneously in the direction that increases the entropy of the universe (system plus surrounding).” Entropy, the number of ways the components of a system can be rearranged without changing the system, plays a major roll in the second law of thermodynamics.
...t. The Chaos Game can be applied to create other fractals and shapes, and is a major part of an entirely separate area of study: chaos theory. The fact that the Sierpinski Triangle transcends the boundaries of fractal and number theory proves that it is an important part of mathematics. Perhaps the Sierpinski Triangle still holds secrets that, if discovered, will change the way we think about mathematics forever.