RE: Chaos theory
July 14, 2014 at 6:24 pm
(This post was last modified: July 14, 2014 at 6:31 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(July 14, 2014 at 3:29 pm)Rhizomorph13 Wrote: Considering the noose experiment, that is a whole lot of things brought into play to obtain an effect. Same with the "moving pluto" example. I think this question is one of small stimulus causing a huge effect. I still say, not likely, the universe seems to follow rules that prevent such large effects being caused by small stimuli. I could imagine some causal chain that might result in some catastrophe like some Final Destination death scene, but I think those mostly don't happen, and they really are a buildup of many small actions rather than one action causing the huge effect.
Can you cite a few examples of universe following any rules which prevents large effects from small stimuli?
(July 14, 2014 at 11:22 am)Rhizomorph13 Wrote: From what I've seen, things tend toward the average of forces around them, so I don't believe that small changes can result in huge results. I would point out the effects of a small stone on a lake; at no point has anyone ever dropped a pebble in a lake and suddenly there was a giant wave on the other side of that lake.
What if you drop a small pebble atop a unstable cornice of accummulated snow above a steep embankment next to the lake, the pebble triggers an avalanch, which pounds into the lake, and there is a giant wave on the other side.
The more you close off a system, the more the changes to the system become restricted by what you bring into and out of the system. You probably imagined a closed lake with nothing interacting with it except a pebble dropped into it. Obviously the total amount of energy that is available to cause any reaction in the lake is that which is carried by the pebble, so no giant wave would appear out of ether where there is no available energy to power it.
But the more a system have room to interact with other elements around it besides what you would bring into and out of it, the more room is there for your stimulus to trigger a much larger input or outtake from the system than you intend. As a result the system can behave disproportionately violently compare to the small amount of initial stimuli.
