CHAOS THEORY

"Ordered chaos"--does this sound familiar?

The pairing ordered chaos, due to the apparent contradictions of its terms, carries within it implications of movement and process far greater than either word alone. Ordered implies a recognizable pattern, or that everything is in its right place and functioning properly; definitions that presume expectation. Chaos implies there is no pattern and that there is no rightful place or function. It is without expectation. Taken separately then, the terms each postulate the existence of a viewer, one who is or is without some degree of expectation. And since it is only as a measure of this degree of expectation that the terms may be applied, the two concepts represent different points on a continuum determined solely by the knowledge (or expectation) the viewer brings to any system to be examined. The viewer's expectation of a system, then, affects its description. Or, again, we see what we are looking for. As humanity's ability in understanding complex systems evolves, the chaotic "becomes" orderly. As Stephen Hawking says, "...if we discover a complete [chaos] theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few... and just ordinary people [will] be able to take part in the discussion... why it is that we and the universe exist."

Fractals as patterns of complex systems

Fractals apparently opened the door to chaos theory. As common representative subsets of more complex systems appeared in seemingly unrelated systems (structurally similar spirals, for example), the curious became more interested in representing the unrepresentable. These increasing complex representations became even more so with the advent of accessible computer power, producing amazing graphs in organic shapes of infinite complexity. The graphs were found to correspond to such processes as plant growth, weather patterns, the development of embryos, and quantum theories of time and space. It is the study of these complex systems and their interrelationships that form the basis of chaos theory.

Consciousness out of chaos?

It might be that only a worldview dependent upon a minimal, occidental definition of consciousness would even pose the question this way. If every point in the space-time grid is conscious and the human brain only a focal point in the grid, shouldn't we be asking: Chaos out of consciousness?