Chaos

Much like physics, chaos theory provides a foundation for the study of all other scientific disciplines. It is acually a tool box of methods for incorporating nonlinear dynamics into the study of science. For many people, the work in chaos represents the reunification of the sciences. In mathematics, the use of strange attractors, fractals, and cellular automata, and other nonlinear, graphical models are used for studying data that was previously thought of as random. In biology, chaos is used in the identification of new evolutionary processes leading to understanding the genetic algorithim, artificial life simulations, better understanding of learning processes in systems including the brain, and studies of such previously unresearchable areas as consciousness and the mind. Darwin's work also appears in direct conflict with Newton's because it changes our understanding of the nature of time, demonstrating that some time is not reversible. Prigogine explains that the concept of entropy is actually the physicists application of the concept of evolution to physical systems. The greater the entropy of a system, the more highly evolved the system is. Chaos theory is also having a major impact on quantum physics and attempts to reconcile the chaos of quantum physics with the predictability of Newton's universe.