Complexity and Chaos: An evolving worldivew

~5 min read

There have been shifts in the focus of science of late, and some of the changes might point to an evolution of the scientific worldview. 

Modern Physics

Modern physics starts with Newton and his laws of motion, in the late 1600s. These laws can be used to predict the motions of billiard balls and hockey pucks and can be used to put a man on the moon and bring him home safely.

The information used for these calculations are positions and velocities of objects with mass and the equations calculate where they will be for time going forward and even looking back in time. The information is deterministic, meaning the equations tell us where the object definitely will be.

Faraday and Maxwell added the effects of electric charge and magnetic fields to make the equations more general.

Einstein added the effects of very high speeds to introduce relativistic corrections. The equations are still deterministic.

At the very small scale, including the molecular scale, equations were developed to incorporate quantum effects and now the equations are not so deterministic. Probability enters the equations, an aspect Einstein hated. He exclaimed “God does not play dice with the universe.” But it turns out, He kind of does.

A parallel line of development started out in the 1800s with the development of steam engines. (On a personal note, I find steam to be a very elegant technology…who doesn’t thrill to see a steam engine in action?) The goal was to get as much power as possible from steam engines and this gave rise to the field of thermodynamics.

Thermodynamics and Entropy

The inputs to these calculations are macroscopic properties of the machine and the fluid being used to transmit the power. The variables are temperature, pressure, volume (stuff we can measure) and energy (which we can calculate). In developing the equations, they found there were some variables that they couldn’t explain, like entropy. Initially, entropy was described as energy in the system that couldn’t be used to do useful work. A very practical way to view entropy.

By the end of the 1800s, the atomic model of matter became generally accepted (the theory that things are made up of atoms is not as old as you might think), and people started to figure out the laws of thermodynamics from first principles starting with what atoms do. While atoms obey the laws of motion developed by Newton, there were too many of them to calculate the motion for each molecule, so statistical techniques were developed. This introduced another type of uncertainty, calculating properties as averages over particles.

Statistical mechanics provided insight into the cause of entropy. The cause is disorder at the molecular level. The higher the disorder, the greater the entropy. The equations of statistical mechanics are powerful and, when combined with modern computers, allow for predictions of the properties of condensed matter.

These areas of study form the basis of a broad understanding of modern science. The evolution of the universe and subsystems thereof are well understood, and the process is largely deterministic, even if some averaging is needed to get the answer.

"In the end, entropy wins"

Armed with this understanding, we can predict the properties of the universe, starting from the Big Bang and projecting out to the end of the universe. At present the theories predict the universe will go out not with a bang (like it started) but with a whimper (with apologies to T.S. Eliot) in a state described as the “Heat Death of the Universe.” And yes, there are T-shirts with this emblazoned across them. In the end, entropy wins.

But this does not describe the Cosmos as we see it. The Cosmos starts out with a hot dense plasma (decidedly disordered) which spreads out, cools down, forms particles, stars, galaxies, planets and, eventually, us. Thermodynamic entropy may be increasing in the universe, but it is not winning. The Cosmos is becoming more organized, not less. Chaotic systems are giving rise to structures, contrary to common sense. It’s not so much entropy that is increasing, it’s complexity. Chaos is giving rise to structure and complexity.

Aspects of Chaos theory are creeping into popular culture. A line in the first Men in Black movie talked about the Great Attractor, the cause of the great blackout in 1977. In Chaos Theory, an attractor is a region of phase space that objects migrate towards as they go through chaotic motions. (Many things in Chaos Theory are only visible in phase space so that might be worthy of some discussion.)

After years of training in physics at advanced levels, including statistical mechanics, none of that training has equipped me to understand either Chaos or complexity. But still, I have come to the point where I feel that the key to understanding the evolution of the universe must include both Chaos and complexity.

One outcome from this exercise for me is to recognize that it’s time for a new worldview, one that looks forward in optimism. The tendency of the Cosmos is to be drawn into higher order and complexity. My hope is that humans will be part of that bright future, but it seems the Cosmos will arrive there with or without us. Rather than “Heat Death of the Universe,” the T-shirt should say “The Omega Point,” the point of maximum connectedness.

It’s the Destiny of the Cosmos.