Chaos theory is sort of a superset that has a mathematics known as Nonlinear Dynamics at its core. Linear systems are the classical stuff you study in math classes. They are functions that are continuous (they don't have holes in them), they are predictable (you plug in x = 5 and you get f(5) = 10 out), etc. Nonlinear systems are much more tricky to analyze. A lot of times they involve feedback loops, where the current state of the system depends on the previous state of the system, not just a raw input from the outside. They usually aren't continuous functions and a lot of our traditional mathematical tools just don't work with non-linear systems.
Some of the characteristics of what you'd call a chaotic system include: High sensitivity to initial conditions. There are a lot of boundaries in nonlinear systems that send things veering off drastically in one way or another. So if you start with a value of 1 you might end up with most of your subsequent points over on the right hand side of the graph but if you start with a value of 1.1 you might end up with most of your subsequent points over on the left hand side of the graph. Self similarity. Fractals, for instance, have a high degree of self-similarity. That means that whatever level you look at a graph, the part you see will look like the whole graph, in miniature. Areas of stability in the midst of randomness. This is the notion of an "attractor" which is a part of a graph that has stable circuits in it. It might go 3, 5, 8, 3, 5, 8, etc. If you started at 3.5 it might go 3.5, 5.2, 8, 3, 5, 8, etc but then if you started at 4, it would veer off and do 4, 193, -43, -45, 16, etc randomly. So, yeah, Chaos Theory as a big overarching thing is kind of wishy-washy (it depends on who you are talking to) but it usually means that there are a lot of feedback loops involved, that there is a lot of randomness but that the randomness can be described/bounded even though it can't be predicted for a given point, that there are areas of stability and areas of non-stability and that there is a strong sense of scale where details emerge through different scales and that little bits look a lot like the whole. Not sure if that whole bit helped or not, it can be hard to describe without equations :) Still, nonlinear dynamics is one of the coolest math classes I've ever taken. Neat stuff. Judah On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 7:41 AM, Sisk, Kris <ks...@gckschools.com> wrote: > > Doesn't chaos theory boil down, in really really really simplistic terms, to > chaos is order and vice versa? I haven't really studied it, but that's the > impression I've gotten. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Larry C. Lyons [mailto:larrycly...@gmail.com] > Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 9:39 AM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: Talking about the religious right... > > > I've been struggling trying to understand Chaos theory for the last > several years. If I understand it correctly (to those more > mathematically inclined on the list please correct me if I'm wrong > here), you don't need someone to be driving the bus. > > On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 9:48 AM, Scott Stewart > <webmas...@sstwebworks.com> wrote: >> >> makes sense to me... of course I've been believing all along that >> science and religion (even *gasp* evolution) can go along quite nicely >> with each other, especially when religious folks realize that >> omnipotence means "can do anything anytime anywhere" >> >> IMHO there's too much order in the "chaos" for someone to *not* be >> driving the bus.. >> >> On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 10:24 PM, Eric Roberts >> <ow...@threeravensconsulting.com> wrote: >>> >>> Actually, according to a display from the MIT slides (I think that was >>> posted here...if not, I can post the link), they are saying 6,000 years >>> ago... >>> >>> My take on all this is as follows. God is supposed to be all seeing and all >>> knowing, yada yada yada... So wouldn't it stand to reason that God created >>> the lightning strike in that protoplasmic pool that caused the proteins to >>> combine to form the first dna fragments that joined to form the first single >>> celled organisms that eventually evolved into us and all the other life ion >>> this planet knowing exactly what was going to happen. He wanted to enjoy >>> the ride and watch things evolve...there were a few times he didn't like the >>> direction they were going so he throws in a curve ball from time to time to >>> destroy life or almost destroy it so it can start again. That makes more >>> sense than creating something out of nothing. His "let there be light" was >>> really the big bang that started it all. >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: G Money [mailto:gm0n3...@gmail.com] >>> Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 1:23 PM >>> To: cf-community >>> Subject: Re: Talking about the religious right... >>> >>> >>> On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Sisk, Kris <ks...@gckschools.com> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Bah. I share that faith and you'd never catch me saying something so >>>> ridiculous. Believing that God created the world does NOT require the >>>> installation of an off switch in your brain. >>>> >>> >>> Judging from your posts on this list....no, you don't share their faith. >>> Their faith goes way beyond what you believe. Fundamentalists and >>> literalists don't just believe that "God created life". They believe in the >>> biblical creation story as written....that it occurred 10,000 years >>> ago....that dinosaurs existed with humans in a garden of eden...etc. etc. >>> >>> You don't share their faith. You share a small part of it....a part that >>> does not require you to a lead a life of willful ignorance. >>> >>> I share that same part of faith, incidentally. I believe that God created >>> life. Although, as I'm making my way through Hawking's "The Grand Design", i >>> may be changing that soon :) >>> >>> -- >>> Glittering prizes and endless compromises >>> Shatter the illusion of integrity >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:328318 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
