Chaos Theory

A detailed Summary of Chaos Theory

In today's world of high-tech methods to study just about anything that exists, we are still imperfect. Scientists continue to look for ways to understand, explain, and even predict the actions and reactions of the universe. In the last two centuries, scientists have been looking in every possible place to understand the universe; from science, to math, even religion. They have turned to mathematicians and their strange theories of determinism and predictability. This search to understand the universe has spawned several new areas of science; there are now scientists devoted solely to the research of mere theories, such as chaos theorists.

In the twentieth century, a new area of scientific study has been created. The goal of this new science is to turn the study of real life into a more easily understood, and more mathematical formula. This new science is called Ecology. Ecology is defined as "the science of relationships between organisms and their environments" (American Heritage Dictionary). Ecologists are, in large, generally biologists with a strong mathematical basis. This is not to say that all ecologists are also mathematicians, but the math background is a major part in the ecologi

In the universe, there are an infinite number of particles; it would be impossible to even count them. If we cannot count them, how are we ever going to know their velocity and location? Even if you could measure their position, it is impossible to measure both the position and velocity of any object at the same time, as simply stated by the laws of motion. Even assuming that you could measure both the velocity and position of every particle in the universe, who is to say that you could predict the future with that information? No one, which is exactly the point, it is all just a big waste of time (Coveney 274).

This viewpoint is the perspective that taken here. There is a theory commonly discussed in courses of science and ethics that everything is simply believed to be. This means that in a biological system, no matter how simple it seems, is infinitely complex. In a rainforest, for example, there are millions of species of plants and animals, there are even hundreds of thousands that we might not know about. Our ability to understand life and nature is limited to both what we are willing to believe, and what we are able to observe. The latter is the more crucial of the two. We have no way to know what exists where we can't look. We cannot observe organisms that are too small to see with a very powerful microscope. This means that there could be millions of species of organisms that are as small or smaller than an atom, which we cannot possibly observe. But this would cause one to question the simply meaning of the word truth. Is something a fact, or do we believe it to be so because we have no means to determine otherwise? Therefore we cannot come even close to predicting a system with LaPlace's theory.

· Clarke, George L. Elements Of Ecology. Wiley & Sons, New York: 1954.

· Hatch, John P. "Biofeedback." Encyclopedia of Human Biology. Academic Press: New York, 1997.

"For example, it is sometimes suggested that a problem might be computationally tractable, but only by a computing device with more components then there are elementary particles in the universe. This would seem to be a contingent problem (the universe might have been bigger), but it is not naturally described as "merely practical." Finally, the situation is further complicated by recent attention to chaotic systems, systems that are deterministic but infinitely sensitive to their exact initial conditions. It is certainly possible that chaotic behavior at a lower level might thwart reduction, although it is again unclear whether this should be seen as a practical or a theoretical obstacle." (Dupre 96)

"Scientists have always searched for simple rules, or laws, that govern the Universe. For example, Isaac Newton could explain how the stars appeared to move across the sky with his simple laws of motion and theory of gravitation. At the beginning of the 19th century, the famous French mathematician Pierre Simon LaPlace believed firmly in a Newtonian universe that worked on clockwork principles. He proposed that if you knew the position and velocities of all the particles in the Universe, you could predict its future for all time." Ha

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Approximate Word count = 2127
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science