Chaos Theory Quotes

• Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.

  Henry Miller

  Reality, Order And Chaos, Score

  Henry Miller, John Calder (1985). “A Henry Miller reader”, Riverrun Pr

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• Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

  Henry Adams

  Life, Change, Order

  The Education of Henry Adams ch. 16 (1907)

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• Chaos theory simply suggests that what appears to most people as chaos is not really chaotic, but a series of different types of orders with which the human mind has not yet become familiar.

  Frederick Lenz

  Buddhism, Science, Order

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• The things that really change the world, according to Chaos theory, are the tiny things. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe.

  Neil Gaiman

  Butterfly, Europe, Wings

  "Good Omens". Book by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, 1990.

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• It used to be thought that the events that changed the world were things like big bombs, maniac politicians, huge earthquakes, or vast population movements, but it has now been realized that this is a very old-fashioned view held by people totally out of touch with modern thought. The things that really change the world, according to Chaos theory, are the tiny things. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe.

  Neil Gaiman

  Butterfly, Views, Europe

  "Good Omens". Book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, 1990.

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• Chaos theory, a more recent invention, is equally fertile ground for those with a bent for abusing sense. It is unfortunately named, for 'chaos' implies randomness. Chaos in the technical sense is not random at all. It is completely determined, but it depends hugely, in strangely hard-to-predict ways, on tiny differences in initial conditions.

  Richard Dawkins

  Science, Differences, Way

  Richard Dawkins (2017). “Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist”, p.87, Random House

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• They believed that prediction was just a function of keeping track of things. If you knew enough, you could predict anything. That's been cherished scientific belief since Newton.' And?' Chaos theory throws it right out the window.

  Michael Crichton

  Track, Belief, Chaos

  Michael Crichton (1997). “Michael Crichton's Jurassic World”, Alfred a Knopf Incorporated

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• I don't think there is such a thing as as a real prophet. You can never predict the future. We know why now, of course; chaos theory, which I got very interested in, shows you can never predict the future.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Real, Thinking, Chaos

  Source: www.salon.com

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• I feel like once the song is done, you put it out there and if people want to do bizarre remixes, if people want to make strange videos, great. You know, like chaos theory applied to the music business.

  Moby

  Song, People, Video

  "Video exclusive: Moby's 'mistake' tells a tale of flotsam love" by Frank Rose, www.wired.com. September 14, 2009.

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• We know from chaos theory that even if you had a perfect model of the world, you'd need infinite precision in order to predict future events. With sociopolitical or economic phenomena, we don't have anything like that.

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  Order, Perfect, Events

  "Always expect the unexpected". Interview with James Surowiecki, www.wired.com. April 1, 2007.

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• I'm very moved by chaos theory, and that sense of energy. That quantum physics. We don't really, in Hindu tradition, have a father figure of a God. It's about cosmic energy, a little spark of which is inside every individual as the soul.

  Bharati Mukherjee

  Father, Soul, Energy

  "Transcript: Bill Moyers Interviews Bharati Mukherjee". "NOW" with Bill Moyers, www.pbs.org. June 20, 2003.

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• The amazing thing is that chaotic systems don't always stay chaotic," Ben said, leaning on the gate. "Sometimes they spontaneously reorganize themselves into an orderly structure." "They suddenly become less chaotic?" I said, wishing that would happen at HiTek. "No, that's the thing. They become more and more chaotic until they reach some sort of chaotic critical mass. When that happens, they spontaneously reorganize themselves at a higher equilibrium level. It's called self-organized criticality.

  Connie Willis

  Self, Wish, Levels

  Connie Willis (1996). “Futures Imperfect”, Doubleday Books

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• The theory of chaos and theory of fractals are separate, but have very strong intersections. That is one part of chaos theory is geometrically expressed by fractal shapes.

  Benoit Mandelbrot

  Strong, Shapes, Chaos

  Source: bigthink.com

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• Tantric Buddhism means that we become mature adults and we learn the reality of chaos theory.

  Frederick Lenz

  Philosophy, Mean, Buddhism

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• Both chaos theory and fractal have had contacts in the past when they are both impossible to develop and in a certain sense not ready to be developed.

  Benoit Mandelbrot

  Past, Impossible, Chaos

  Source: bigthink.com

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• You've never heard of Chaos theory? Non-linear equations? Strange attractors? Ms. Sattler, I refuse to believe you're not familiar with the concept of attraction.

  Michael Crichton

  Believe, Jurassic Park, Strange

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• I believe that only short-term price swings can be predicted with any precision. The accuracy of a prediction drops off dramatically, the more distant the forecast time. I'm a strong believer in chaos theory.

  Linda Bradford Raschke

  Strong, Believe, Swings

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• A good chaos theory means you have a disciplined strategy behind the scenes of how you're going to roll out policy. And then you do it in a way that inflicts chaos on the press and your opponents.

  Jennifer Palmieri

  Mean, Behind The Scenes, Opponents

  Source: abcnews.go.com

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• I guess I would know more about permaculture than most people, and I can't define it. It's multi-dimensional - chaos theory was inevitably involved in it from the beginning.

  Bill Mollison

  People, Chaos, Theory

  "Permaculture: Design For Living". Interview with Alan AtKisson, www.context.org. 1991.

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• I've found him to be a disappointment. Wonderful speech in Egypt, and good intentions aside, foreign policy needs to be firmly grounded in reality, and understanding of a sort of chaos theory...[that is to say] it needs to be part good intention, part political intelligence, and part political savvy and knowledge of international interests and national burdens. President Obama has been extremely short-sighted in this sense, and if he fails, it will be a tragic blow for peaceniks and multilateralists the world over, and a manna from heaven for the Republican party.

  Munir Butt

  Disappointment, Party, Blow

  Foreign Affairs, 2009.

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• Enchanting is not the word that would immediately spring to mind when describing a play that deals with fractal geometry, iterated algorithms, chaos theory and the second law of thermodynamics, but it is a perfect fit for Tom Stoppard's astonishing 1993 play, which is as beautiful as it is brilliant. This is one Stoppard drama that you don't have to be Einstein to understand -- you can feel it as well as think it. (...) Breathtaking, exhilarating and deeply satisfying.

  Lyn Gardner

  Beautiful, Drama, Spring

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• I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can understand ants.

  A. S. Byatt

  Writing, Literature, Ants

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• Jeff Carver is a hard sf writer who gets it right-his science and his people are equally convincing. NEPTUNE CROSSING combines his strengths, from a chilling look at alien machine intelligence, to cutting-edge chaos theory, to the pangs of finite humans in the face of the infinite. If you like intriguing ideas delivered in an exciting plot, this is your meat.

  Gregory Benford

  Cutting, Ideas, People

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• As an experienced editor, I disapprove of flashbacks, foreshadowings, and tricksy devices; they belong in the 1980s with M.A.s in postmodernism and chaos theory.

  David Mitchell

  Editors, Chaos, Theory

  David Mitchell (2012). “Cloud Atlas (Enhanced Movie Tie-in Edition): A Novel”, p.155, Random House Group

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• Whenever you have dynamic interactions between 300 million people and the American economy acting in really complex ways, that introduces a degree of almost chaos theory to the system, in a literal sense.

  Nate Silver

  People, Acting, Degrees

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