Thursday, May 17, 2018 10:16:59 AM
“A butterfly flaps its wings, and it starts to rain,” the narrator of one episode of How I Met Your Mother begins begins, “It’s a scary thought but it’s also kind of wonderful.” He continues:
“All these little parts of the machine constantly working, making sure that you end up exactly where you’re supposed to be, exactly when you’re supposed to be there. The right place at the right time.”
It’s portrayed differently in each one, but you see a popularized version of the Chaos Theory everywhere in movies and TV shows – a butterfly flaps its wing, and the course of history is altered forever. The theory isn’t as crazy as you would think.
Traditionally, scientists believed that all natural processes were either deterministic or nondeterministic – meaning we can either predict their behavior, or not at all. Throwing a ball is deterministic, because if you throw a ball at exactly the same angle and speed, you can predict how far it goes. Uranium decay is nondeterministic, because it’s impossible to predict which exact atom will decay at a given time.
Double-compound-pendulumMathematicians later discovered that those two categories aren’t enough (are they ever satisfied?) Some processes seem predictable, but small changes would bring catastrophic consequences. For example, consider a double pendulum swinging wildly. The locations of the two joints seem easy to calculate, but can vary wildly with the initial acceleration and position.
Freedom Holdings Corporate Update; Announces Management Has Signed Letter of Intent • FHLD • Jul 3, 2024 9:00 AM
EWRC's 21 Moves Gaming Studios Moves to SONY Pictures Studios and Green Lights Development of a Third Upcoming Game • EWRC • Jul 2, 2024 8:00 AM
BNCM and DELEX Healthcare Group Announce Strategic Merger to Drive Expansion and Growth • BNCM • Jul 2, 2024 7:19 AM
NUBURU Announces Upcoming TV Interview Featuring CEO Brian Knaley on Fox Business, Bloomberg TV, and Newsmax TV as Sponsored Programming • BURU • Jul 1, 2024 1:57 PM
Mass Megawatts Announces $220,500 Debt Cancellation Agreement to Improve Financing and Sales of a New Product to be Announced on July 11 • MMMW • Jun 28, 2024 7:30 AM
VAYK Exited Caribbean Investments for $320,000 Profit • VAYK • Jun 27, 2024 9:00 AM