Chaos Theory Should Be Renamed

By David M. Petersen

(This paper isn't finished yet)

I've noticed that analytical thinking types don't really understand chaos. I've seen several examples of scientists speaking about complexity science and talking as if they have "mathematized" chaos. This is also clear when you look at the branch of mathematics they have created called Chaos Theory. Link. The truth is that the Mandelbrot set and all these fractal equations that generate pretty pictures on computers, as well as correspond to patterns in nature, should really be referred to as complex order. This because as the new science of complexity really shows us, chaos can't be mathematized. In fact, it is the antithesis of math. Mathematics, while sometimes very abstract and not correspondent to reality, nevertheless can illuminate the order and the structure in the universe. Chaos, on the other hand, is disorder; disrupture; things falling apart, etc... The mere fact that fractals and strange attractors and the like can be generated by computers proves that they are orderly, because computers can’t do chaos. Link.

Complexity science is correct, as evidenced by its ability to describe dynamic systems. Complexity science recognizes that there is order and chaos and they are too completely different, non-mixable “things.” Together in the right configuration these two opposing forces make up dynamic systems. Therefore, Chaos theory is not describing actual chaos and should be renamed to complex order theory. Consequently, in a system being mapped by a computer, the strange attractor is orderly and, in a healthy functioning dynamic system (the weather for example,) the chaos would be all around the attractor constantly attacking it. Finally, another point is that you can't understand a dynamic system with just the left side of your brain, you’ve got it imagine it using the right side. Another reason why these analyticals don't like chaos, I suppose.

Also, the "butterfly effect" is not real chaos; because they are talking about an effect that is seen inside their strange attractors, which are really just complex order pictures as previously stated. Frankly it is best to look at complex systems as chaos being controlled by order. Expand.