"Chaos Digest" would seem to be the appropriate place to post this.

Submitted by My Alter Ego on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 9:43am. ::

Edward N. Lorenz, a Meteorologist and a Father of Chaos Theory, Dies at 90.

When I read James Gleick's Chaos (a book I recommend to anyone who hasn't read it), one of the things that most struck me was the story of Dr. Lorenz and his weather simulation program, and how his insight into "sensitive dependence on initial conditions" led him to realize that long-term weather prediction was impossible. It was interesting to see how, in the years following the publication of Chaos, a phrase that Lorenz coined to describe sensitive dependence on initial conditions--the Butterfly Effect--entered mainstream consciousness and became the underlying premise for a movie starring Ashton Kutcher. I wonder what Dr. Lorenz thought of all that. Odd to think that the ripples generated from an obscure scientist's puzzlement over divergent numbers on a computer printout would lead to the production of a Hollywood movie, a somewhat-improbable series of events that are, in an oddly recursive sense, the perfect example of the very phenomenon that Dr. Lorenz discovered.

Ruth's picture
Submitted by Ruth on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 12:41pm.

I was just thinking of Chaos theory last night. There was a show on WTTW with Neil Degrasse Tyson on how understanding complex systems is the new trend in research. They showed some examples on how simple compounds or even individual organisms seemed to reorganize into more complex but not chaotic groupings (birds flocking, hyaluronic acid forming vesicles under heat and pressure).

What I was not able to decide, was this meshing with chaos theory or not? I had better read the book.


Ruth's picture
Submitted by Ruth on Sat, 04/19/2008 - 3:22pm.

Emergent Complexity. That was the term. It has been rattling around in my head and finally popped out when I was looking at a bus load of gradeschoolers. The acid was "pyruvic," too.


Submitted by My Alter Ego on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 9:38am.

One thing I especially liked about Gleick's book was that it was very easy for a layman (like myself) to read, but at the same time it did not seem to be dumbed-down.

Todds Spleen's picture
Submitted by Todds Spleen on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 5:21pm.

I'd like it if some complexity could emerge. All this simplicity is really wearing on me.


Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.