Chaotic Theories About Chaos

By Rich Van Winkle

I have heard some strange and whimsical ideas about “chaos theory”. I have a new theory about them.
First, it might help to offer a bit more background. “Chaos” is a complex subject based upon a very
simple principle: it is much harder to reconstruct a broken egg than to break one. Chaos is a total lack of
organization or order which is closely related to randomness (lacking structure, plan or purpose). A
“theory” is an idea or set of ideas that intends to explain facts or observations. Theories may be rational,
contemplative, and based upon observational study or research; or not. Theories may be “scientific” or
not. We tend to value scientific theories because they are based upon a set of concepts, principles, and
definitions that make sense of a phenomenon by showing useful relationships between elements or
variables that are validated by experiments, evidence, predictability, and projection.
There are many theories relating to chaos. In physics, the major theory related to chaos is the “second law
of thermodynamics” (a “law” because the theory is so well validated as to be “proven true”). It states that
heat always flows spontaneously from hotter to colder regions of matter and it important because it limits
the ability of energy to do work. It relates to chaos because there exists a useful state variable called
“entropy” and when that variable is at zero, the chaos is total. In closed systems, the equilibrium state
equals the state of maximum (total) entropy. (Giving us an alternate definition for “entropy” as a measure
of the disorder of a system, such that a completely random dispersion of elements corresponds to
maximum entropy, or minimum information).
Maximum entropy = total chaos.
There has been extensive effort to formulate this concept in mathematics and apply it in information
science and system mechanics, and other fields. The development of “chaos theories” in these other fields
has seemingly led to chaos in thinking.
In mathematics, chaos theory is used to describe the qualities of the point at which stability moves to
instability or order moves to disorder. It is concerned with unpredictable courses of events where “chaos”
is the irregular and unpredictable time evolution of nonlinear and complex/random linear systems. This
idea of chaos is illustrated by the well-known “butterfly effect” first explained by Edward Lorentz: the
notion that a butterfly stirring the air in Hong Kong today can transform storm systems in New York next
month. The initial conditions which define deterministic chaos have great effect in our ability to predict
outcomes. The difference between predictions with slightly different initial conditions grows
exponentially as given in the equation dt=d0eat (where d(t) is the difference between the two predictions at
time t and d(0) at time zero, t is the time, and a is a positive number, per physicist and mathematician
Jules Henri Poincare).
In 1963 Lorenz performed a series of computer simulations using three ordinary differential equations
with various critical parameter values. He observed (and wrote about) an articulation of the two main
features of chaotic systems. The first is “aperiodicity”. “In the critical regime, a trajectory generated by
his model settles into an attractor, that is, the trajectory remains confined to a region of state space, but it
does not repeat. Such attractors have been termed strange attractors. In the same regime the trajectories
generated also exhibit initial conditions sensitivity, that is, nearby trajectories diverge exponentially.” 1
Nonlinear systems can converge to an equilibrium (steady state), a stable oscillation (“periodic

1
“Constructing Post-Classical Ecosystems Ecology” by Gao Yin & William Herfel, in Philosophy of Complex
Systems, Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, North-Holland, Volume 10 (2011), pp. 389-420.
behavior”), a state with punctuated disequilibrium (per Prigogine), or there can be chaotic change
(leading to entropy).
In 1980, Benoit Mandelbrot utilized a new form of geometry, known as “fractal geometry” (irregular
structures but with the same degree of irregularity on all scales) to show how complex structure may
arising from the application of simple rules to yield emergent structure within chaotic systems. The motif
of fractals are relevant in chaos theory because they occur in many depictions of processes (either as
attractors or as boundaries between basins of attraction).
“Chaos is the science of surprises, of the nonlinear and the unpredictable. It teaches us to expect the
unexpected… Recognizing the chaotic, fractal nature of our world can give us new insight, power, and
wisdom.”2 Or, it can lead us to more chaos. As Einstein suggested: “As far as the laws of mathematics
refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” The
extension of “chaos theory” into the whimsical may, at best, lead to new conceptions. But as Ryan
Reynolds (in character) in the movie “Chaos Theory” (2017) says: “Those who do not control whim are
destined to be controlled by whim”.
And so, anyone can have a theory about chaos. And since the scientific and mathematical theories
regarding chaos are rather complex, some create whimsical “chaos theories” which may or may not have
validation, valid reasoning, or predictive potential. Such whimsical chaotic theories about chaos are likely
to yield more “chaos” (complete disorder and confusion, mayhem, bedlam).

2
https://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-is-chaos-theory/