Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory

Flip a coin. Pick straws. Play rock, paper, scissors. Eeenie, meanie, miny, mo. These are all ways people make random decisions. They are all unsystematic methods of making choices that require little or no thought at all. All of these childish, silly, random techniques of making decisions are methods that relate to chaos theory. Chaos theory is the study and search for a pattern in random decision-making and information. It is about finding the system in unsystematic systems.

The Butterfly Effect is an example of an unsystematic system. It is the method in which the slightest change in a variable can affect the entire system, like how a butterfly’s wings can change the course of weather in the future. This “effect” unknowingly impacts our lives every single day. For example, say a man follows a daily routine of waking up at the same exact time, riding the same exact bus to work, and back home. But one day, his alarm clock goes off late making his routine off by a few minutes, therefore making him late for his usual bus. While waiting for the second bus, he meets a woman who he eventually asks out and marries. If his alarm clock didn’t go off late, his life would have been completely different. One instance of the Butterfly Effect changed the entire course of his life.

When you put people into different categories based certain characteristics, it is called fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic is when you base separation and decisions on the “ifs” and “thens” factors of the system. It includes all of the variables between the correct answer and the wrong answer. For example, your mother says dogs are not allowed in the house; therefore we would like to believe that dogs are strictly forbidden. But according to fuzzy logic, if the dog is a Chihuahua, then it is because of its small size. Another example is