Chaos Theory
By Robert Ringer
I recently read a fascinating book about chaos theory — Chaos, by James Gleick. Oversimplified, chaos theory is about the underlying chaos that exists in seemingly orderly systems.
The so-called butterfly effect comes into play here, because a small change in initial conditions can dramatically change the long-term behavior of a “system.” A system, of course, can be just about anything — the weather, a mathematical formula, a sporting event, even a student’s school career.
Of course, the ultimate chaos-versus-order showcase is the universe itself. A majority of scientists believe that the universe began about 14 billion years ago with the unleashing of the so-called Big Bang. That’s serious chaos. But what’s puzzling to many of them is that the formation of the substantive universe may not be as random as once thought. For example, there appear to be precise patterns (i.e., order) to the galaxies.
Perhaps the rings of Saturn are the best cosmic example for us Earthlings to study when it comes to chaos versus order. When you look at a photo of Saturn, its rings are so smooth they appear to have been painted by an artist.
Yet at the local level, randomness and disorder prevail in the rings, with billions of small particles of ice, mixed with dust and other chemicals, circling the planet in their own orbits. They range in size from microns to meters. In fact, on closer inspection, gaps can be found in the rings, and there are even two moons embedded in them.
So, in the case of the rings of Saturn, what appears to be perfect order from a distance is actually quite chaotic. What we see at a distance are patterns in the form of smooth, concentric rings, but this is a deception caused by distance.
The same is true here on Earth. No matter how orderly something may appear to be, there is always chaos at the local level. For example, a brick wall looks calm and steady, but on a micro level, there is disorder. Neutrons and protons are circling the nucleus of every atom in every brick, and the atoms themselves are vibrating wildly.
On a macro level, man has harnessed the energy of those atoms by rearranging them first into bricks and then into a brick wall. And now that I think about it, that’s pretty much what man does for a living; i.e., he brings order from chaos by rearranging atoms. Will Durant defined human progress as “increasing control of the environment by life … the domination of chaos by mind and purpose, of matter by form or will.”
So, it appears that man’s purpose — at least his nonspiritual purpose — is to bring order from chaos. We’ve done a pretty good job of this over the past 8,000 years or so, but we should never forget that underlying our best-laid plans is utter chaos.
Seismic turmoil abounds below our orderly skyscrapers. The next Katrina lies quietly in wait ready to wreak havoc on some unsuspecting city. Transmutating killer viruses, invisible to the naked eye, are ready to thrust the next HIV into our lives.
We organize governments to bring order to society, but, underneath it all, what we really want is to be free of government. Human beings are anarchists at heart. They don’t like to be told what to do and when to do it. Chaos is always roiling beneath society’s surface.
In reality, what seems to be chaos is also order … and vice versa. The truth be known, what we think of as order … as perfection … as absolute … is really just patterns. We look for patterns in sports, in the stock market, in business cycles.
Where we invite problems into our lives is by believing that patterns are the permanent order of things. The United States of today bears little resemblance to the country I grew up in, and I’d be willing to wager that, the way things are now going, the United States of the next five to ten years will bear even less resemblance to the country we are living in today.
Be alert. Be nimble. And don’t confuse the way you wish things to be with the way they actually are. Dramatic changes are coming. And, yes, they will be chaotic.
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Copyright © 2012 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.
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now this is the Robert Ringer I learned so much from . What happened to the Big Picture Ringer? All this ranting and raving about Obama is so Small Picture. Politcs has always been and always shall be nothing but Propganda that has little to do with the truth.
Speaking of Chaos: I read the suicide note/letter of Joe Stack, the man authorities claim flew his plane into the IRS building in Austin Texas, and he seems like a man who couldn’t come to grips with the chaos theory. A man tortured by the unfairness of life and frustrated to the point of violent action; However, the lengthy suicide note/letter was not the ramblings of a crazy man; It was more like a well thought out list/timeline of grievances that Mr. Stack had had against the corrupt elements of big government, big business, and big religion. In fact, the letter was surprisingly coherent, steady, and well thought out for a man who was about to fly an aircraft into a building. What does this tell me? This tells me that there is more violence ahead. As the collapse of western civilization intensifies into an ever greater level of chaos, frustrated individuals—no matter how well educated and sane— will be compelled to acts of violence. As I said before on this very blog, those whom you never dreamed could hurt a fly will be dripping with blood before this all plays out. You and I ain’t seen nothing yet…….
Mr. Ringer, to his credit, rightly forecasts that “dramatic changes are coming. And, yes, they will be chaotic.” Mr. Ringer wisely advises us to “be alert. Be nimble. And don’t confuse the way you wish things to be with the way they actually are.”
Otherwise sane people are now right on the verge of doing violent things. As anger replaces hope, violence will only increase. Get ready. America as a whole might muddle through for a few more years, maybe longer, but “dramatic changes” are coming that will give fresh meaning to the word “chaos.”
I leave you with the last written words of Mr. Joe Stack: “I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop the insanity this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother and IRS man, lets try something different: take my pound of flesh.”
RIP Mr. Stack. RIP. I can assure you and your family that you’re far more sane and far less chaotic than the IRS and the Big Government phycopaths who know they’re running the entire country right off a cliff and yet continue to do so anyway.
Excellent article, Robert!
I believe our very (human) nature and existence on this planet is one of this duality between chaos and order. In fact, I believe it is one of the most basic principles of the universe, that is, the Law of Opposites (and it’s an interesting one to delve into deeper).
This Law of Opposites, found in the chaos and order that you so aptly describe, is one of the most fundamental tenets of America’s freedom and liberty, inspired and transcribed beautifully by America’s Founders in the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. (I know you understand this, which is why you have this article listed under your Ideology of Freedom category. ☺)
For most Americans (and indeed, most humans who don’t suffer ideological minds– we still consider freedom and liberty as our greatest, if not the greatest, of our core values. Yet, the opposite of freedom and liberty is (personal) responsibility, which seeks to restrain the chaos that complete freedom and liberty would become without it. I like to think of these opposites as a lock and key—meaningless and useless without each other.
It never fails to amaze me how progressives and their ilk, who consider themselves to be so intellectually and morally superior to the unwashed masses, miss out on understanding something so basic to our existence as this.
I’m of the notion that they’ve thrown the baby out with the bath water. I mean, when you completely discard the idea of this world having an intelligent design caused by the Creator God, in favor of humanistic science and morality, then I suppose you really do struggle to grasp even the most obvious truth. They worship at the altar of their own intelligence and hubris.
But as you know, truth is a funny thing for those who have discarded the omniscient, omnipresent and eternal God in favor of their own limited ideologies and humanistic scientific theories. I suppose that’s why in their world, truth continues to be as constant as nailing Jello® to the wall.
Maybe it’s just me, but in my simple mind, I believe it’s entirely easy to see that God very deliberately created immutable laws that govern the universe, and imposed these laws upon our planet and all of creation that exists upon it. Likewise His intelligent design included human (moral) principles to provide for a higher order of human interaction; that is, once Adam and Eve gave us the human condition known as original sin.
Regardless of any particular theology of (that) event, it seems clear to me that there is still an intelligent design to the whole of all that is seen and unseen, of all that is known, and all that remains to be discovered. Yet, this orderly universe is still made up of all the molecules of chaotic energy, that continue to push us forward toward ever greater growth and expansion of the present. For without that growth and expansion, we immediately begin the cycle of decline and decay since there is nothing that remains static in this intelligent design.
And that brings us back full circle. A return to the Law of Opposites; where chaos and order were designed to co-exist to make up the building blocks of the universe.
In my humble opinion, I see the Law of Opposites as the best explanation of why and how both intelligence and faith are required to see and understand the Truth.
Respectfully,
Karen Barnes
After watching Glenn Beck, I’d like to add a few comments about Mr. Stack and Mr. Beck. I’d also like to correct a pathetic spelling error that I made( psychopaths/Phychopaths)
My sister lives in Austin, and contrary to what Mr. Beck and the corporate media are reporting, the word is that Mr. Stack was a very sane man who was well educated, an accomplished musician, a pilot, a software engineer, and a soft spoken and gentle individual. So, call him a criminal if you like, but don’t call him insane like Mr. Beck did over and over again, because it doesn’t harmonize with the facts.
Mr. Beck does a fine job most of the time, but you have to watch him. He knows a little of nothing about Texas politics and constitutionalists like gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina. He’s quite ignorant about the 911 Truthers and the fact that not all 911 Truthers believe that 911 was an inside job plotted by our own government. A large number of Truthers just have reasonable questions about the 911 commission report, the EPA assessment of air quality after the buildings went down, the medical treatment of the first responders who had to breath the toxic air for a prolonged period after the attack, and many other reasonable questions that should be respected: They just want the truth.
If you get all your news and opinions from the corporate media, then take good care to separate the facts from opinions. Often times, Mr. Beck and the corporate media goes contrary to Mr. Ringer’s advice: “Be alert. Be nimble. And don’t confuse the way you wish things to be with the way they actually are.”
If you listen to Mr. Beck’s radio program, he and his side-kicks/pets often act like a bunch of court jesters/class clowns. “Stu,” Mr. Beck’s executive writer, reminds me of a common know-it-all. In fact, maybe that’s what they should rename the show: Mr. Know-it-All And Friends or, The Laughing Boys.
As the collapse of western civilization becomes more and more chaotic, the laughing&entertainment of Glenn Beck is going to go out of style and be replaced with some serious anger. Already men like Richard Behney, a Republican Senate candidate, spoke to Tea Party supporters about what he would do if the 2010 elections did not produce beneficial results: “I’m cleaning my guns and getting ready for the big show. And I’m serious about that, and I bet you are, too.”
I can tell you right now that a lot of men and women are getting ready for “the big show,” and they’re not crazy. They understand why we have a second amendment.
Order requires maintenance and integrity in the operating system. As a system grows and accumulates in complexity, maintenance of the original status quo becomes more difficult and integrity is compromised.
We are now living in an increasingly complex and overtly compromised social and political system. What was once simple, has become demanding and requiring inordinate amounts of resources to keep the system from completely breaking down.
Some of those “resources” are currently non existent such as the debt funding being used to prop up the inefficient and wasteful programs being supported and expanded by the government.
Like anything else, nature and natural physical laws may let the violation of it’s rules slide for a short period of time, however nature is always self correcting and draconian in the end with no appeals and no recourse to the sentence handed out for consistently and chronically violating the hard and firm rules of nature.
Modern human being have tried to set themselves up above the laws of nature. We eat too much and of foods that are not nutritious nor healthy, exercise too little, and in many cases the producers in society are forced to work increasingly long and stressful hours to keep from losing everything they’ve overextended themselves financially and materialistically to so far accumulate. The end result is an ubiquitously very physically and mentally fatigued dysfunctional anxiety ridden population who are too tired to take a step back off their treadmills, and take a long objective look at themselves and their society and what the extrapolated outcome will be given current trends and a failure to acknowledge our shared failings and the failings of those we put in place to represent us.
Chaos is always looming under the surface under a society that is growing tired, disenchanted, resentful, and remaining in denial of it’s present decaying circumstances and how these circumstances were created.
In order to slow down, stop, and then reverse the failing system, the first step that needs to be taken is for a majority of people to admit that it’s failing and falling into unsustainable chaos. After that admission is made, the next step is to come to an agreement by a majority of citizens on what the options are to restore the system to one of integrity.
From the most educated and most workable options, we then must act. Doing nothing will assure an eventual breakdown and the chaos that will ensue. Those of us who have studied the lessons of history, understand that this potential chaotic period can have long term negative effects on society as a whole, and the individuals who live in this society at the time the chaos initiates and to those fated to live in the future of that society.