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Dr. S. Ivory's avatar

What seems to be overlooked quite often in any discussion that falsely dichotomizes the choice between chaos and order, is precisely that which was put forward by Ilya Prigogine, in his chaos theory. According to this theory we do not actually make a choice between allowing chaos or imposing order. Rather, we choose the level at which we perceive the world.

This theory applies the principle underlying Mandelbrot equations, originally a mathematical mapping of economic trends. Such mapping found that economics seems to be fractal, that is, the same trends reflecting some kind of internal order are discoverable at an infinity of scales. For example, day-to-day trends exhibit the same curves as month to month trends, as do year to year trends, ad infinitum.

Chaos theory may apply this notion of fractal reality beyond the limits of economics, and find that what looks chaotic up close - that is, appears to be composed of random data - resolves into an ordered, and therefore predictable, array of information when viewed at a larger scale.

Societally, then, we need not panic when things look disorderly, because over time and over larger measures- i.e., larger data sets, whether they be of population, of specific demographics or other vatosbles of interest - order arises.

This chatacteristic of data sets qua sets definitely points to the need for a more sophisticated and widespread appreciation of history, as it is the prime source of data which, when considered soberly in depth, may best assist in the development of common sense strategies in preparation for predictably unfolding situations.

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Gwaihir's avatar

It looks like Tolkien was right:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

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